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With her will or against it, by the impulse of enthusiasm still left orunder the law of good pleasure, France followed her insatiable master uponthe ever open battle-fields. Napoleon was not deceived as to his arbitrarymeasures. "I wish to call out 30,000 men by the conscription of 1810," hewrote on the 21st March to General Lacuée, director-general of the reviewsand conscription; "I am obliged to delay the publication of the 'Senatus-consulte,' which can only be done when all the documents are published.Let the good departments be preferred in choosing. The levy for Francegenerally will only be one fourth of this year's conscription. Theprefects might manage it without letting the public know, since there isno occasion for their assembling or drawing lots."

Financial difficulties also began to be felt. For a long time, by warcontributions and exactions of every kind imposed upon the conqueredcountries, Napoleon had formed a military treasury, which he alonemanaged, and without any check. This resource allowed him to do withoutincreasing taxes or imposing additional burdens. The funds, however,became exhausted, and war alone could renew them. "Reply to Sieur Otto,"he wrote on the 1st April, 1809, to Champagny, "that I will have nothingsaid about subsidies. It is not at all the principle of France. It waswell enough under the ancient government, because they had few troops, butat the present day the power of France, and the energy impressed upon mypeoples, will produce as many soldiers as I wish, and my money is employedin equipping them and putting them on the field."

Negotiations were still being carried on. The fifth coalition was secretlyformed, and diplomatic plots were everywhere joining their threads.Napoleon strove to engage Russia in a common declaration against Austria;England enrolled against France the new government just established atConstantinople by revolution. On both sides the preparations for warbecame more patent and hurried. Metternich complained at Paris of thehostile attitude of France, and announced the reciprocity imposed upon hismaster. On the 1st April, Napoleon wrote, "Get articles put in all thejournals upon all that is provoking or offensive for the French nation ineverything done at Vienna. You can go as far back as the first arming.There must be an article of this tendency every day in the _Journal del'Empire_, or the _Publiciste_, or the _Gazette de France_. The aim ofthese articles is to prove that they wish us to make war."

In France the decided, if not expressed, wish of the Emperor Napoleon, andin Austria the patriotic indignation and warlike excitement of the courtand army, must necessarily have brought on a rupture; and the mosttrifling pretext was enough to cause the explosion. The arrest of a Frenchcourier by the Austrians at Braunau, the violation of the imperialterritory by the troops of Marshal Davout then posted at Wurzburg,provoked hostilities several days sooner than Napoleon expected; andMetternich had already asked for his passports when, on the 10th April,the Archduke Charles crossed the Inn with his army. The Tyrol at the sametime rose in insurrection under the orders of a mountain innkeeper, AndrewHofer; and the Bavarian garrisons were everywhere attacked by hunters andpeasants. Like the Spanish, the Tyrolese claimed the independence of theircountry.

The troops of the Emperor Napoleon already covered Germany; Davout beingat Ratisbon, Lannes at Augsburg, and Masséna at Ulm. Marshal Lefebvrecommanded the Bavarians, Augereau was appointed to lead the Wurtembergers,the men of Baden and Hesse; the Saxons were placed under the orders ofBernadotte. On the evening of the 9th April, the Archduke Charles wrote tothe King of Bavaria that his orders were to advance, and treat as enemiesall the forces which opposed him; that he fondly trusted that no Germanwould resist the liberating army on its march to deliver Germany. TheEmperor Napoleon had already offered to the Kings of Saxony and Bavariaone of his palaces in France as an asylum, should they find themselvescompelled to temporarily abandon their capitals. The King of Bavaria setout for Augsburg.

The unexpected movement of his enemies modified Napoleon's plan of attack.A delay in the arrival of the despatches sent to Major-General Berthiercaused some difficulty in the first operations of the French army. Whenthe emperor arrived at Donauwerth, on the morning of the 17th, his armywas spread over an extent of twenty-five leagues, and was in danger ofbeing cut in two by the Archduke Charles. It was Napoleon's care and studyon beginning the campaign to avoid this danger, which soon afterwards hesubjected his adversary to. The Austrians, after passing the Isar at twoplaces, and driving back the Bavarians who had been appointed to defendthe passage, advanced towards the Danube.

Already, before touching Donauwerth, Napoleon's orders had begun theconcentration of his forces. Masséna was at Augsburg, and received theorder to march upon Neustadt, and similarly Davout left Ratisbon toadvance to the same place. The Archduke Charles was also striving to reachit, hoping to gain upon the French by speed, and pass between thedivisions posted at Ratisbon and Augsburg. This manoeuvre was baffled byNapoleon's prompt decision. "Never was there need for more rapidity andactivity of movement than now," he wrote on the 18th to Masséna."Activity, activity, speed! Let me have your assistance."

The emperor's lieutenants did not fail him in this brilliant andscientific movement, everywhere executed with an ability and precisionworthy of the great general who had conceived it. The Archduke Charles wasa consummate tactician, but often his prudence degenerated intohesitation--a dangerous fault in presence of the most overpoweringmilitary genius whom the world had yet beheld. Napoleon himself said ofMarshal Turenne that he was the only general whom experience had made moredaring. A long military experience had not exercised that happy effect onthe archduke; he still felt his way, and neglecting to take advantage ofthe concentration of his forces, dispersed the different parts of hisarmy. The chastisement was not slow in following the fault. On the 19th,Marshal Davout, ascending the Danube from Ratisbon to Abensberg, met anddefeated the Austrian troops at Fangen, thus being able to effect hisjunction with the Bavarians. On the 20th, the emperor attacked the enemy'slines at several points, and forced his way through them towards Rohrafter several active engagements, thus securing the point of Abensberg,and separating the Archduke Charles from General Hiller and the ArchdukeLouis. On the 21st, this last part of the enemy's army precipitated itselfin a body upon the important position of Landshut, where all the Austrianwar material was collected, with a large number of wounded; but at thesame moment the emperor himself came up, eagerly followed by Lannes andBessières, commanding their regiments. Masséna also made haste to jointhem. The bridges on the Isar were all attacked at once, and bravelydefended by the Austrians: when carried they were already in flames. TheArchduke Charles, however, attacking Ratisbon, which Davout was obliged toleave protected only by one regiment, easily took possession of thatimportant place, commanding both banks of the Danube. He was thus, on the22nd, before Eckmühl opposite Davout. Informed of this movement, which hehad partly guessed from the noise of the cannon on the 21st, the emperordirected the main body of his army towards Eckmühl. His troops had alreadybeen fighting for three days, and Napoleon asked a fresh effort from them."It is four o'clock," he wrote to Davout, "I have resolved to march, andshall be upon Eckmühl about midday, and ready to attack the enemyvigorously at three o'clock. I shall have with me 40,000 men. I shall beat Ergoltsbach before midday. If the cannon are heard I shall know I am toattack. If I don't hear it, and you are ready for the attack, fire a salvoof ten guns at twelve, another at one, and another at two. I am determinedto exterminate the army of the Archduke Charles to-day, or at the latestto-morrow."

The day was not finished, and the cuirassiers were still fighting bymoonlight to carry and defend the Ratisbon highway, yet the victory wasdecisive. The Archduke Charles was beaten, and falling back upon Ratisbon,he, during the night, took the wise step of evacuating the town andwithdrawing into Bohemia, where General Bellegarde and his troops awaitedhim. Henceforth the Austrian army formed two distinct bodies. On the 23rd,Napoleon marched upon Ratisbon, which bravely defended itself. Slightlywounded in the foot by a ball, the emperor remained the whole day onhorseback, Marshal Lannes directing the assault. At one moment thesoldiers hesitating because the Austrians shot down one after another ofthose who carried the ladders, Lannes seized one, and shouted, "I shallshow you that your marshal has not ceased to be a grenadier." His aides-de-camp went before him, and they themselves led the troops to theescalade. At last the gates were opened, and Napoleon entered Ratisbon.

He spent three days there, preparing his movement of attack againstVienna, which was slightly and badly defended, fortifying his positions,and taking precautions against an unexpected return of the ArchdukeCharles. At the same time, by his proclamations to the army, as well as byhis letters to the princes of the Rhenish Confederation, he spreadthroughout all Europe his inebriation with success, and the declaration ofhis projects.

"Soldiers!

"You have justified my expectations; you have made up for numbers bybravery. You have gloriously proved the difference which exists betweenthe soldiers of Cæsar and the armed hordes of Xerxes.

"In a few days we have triumphed in the three pitched battles of Thann,Abensberg, and Eckmühl, and in the engagements of Peising, Landshut, andRatisbon. A hundred cannon, forty flags, 50,000 prisoners, three sets ofbridge-apparatus, all the enemy's artillery, with 600 harnessed wagons,3000 harnessed carriages with baggage, all the regimental chests,--that isthe result of your rapid marches and your courage.

"The enemy, intoxicated by a perjured cabinet, seemed to have retained norecollection of you; his awakening has been speedy, you have appeared tohim more terrible than ever. Recently he crossed the Inn, and invaded theterritory of our allies. Recently he was in full hopes of carrying the warinto the bosom of our country; to-day defeated, terrified, he flies indisorder. My advance-guard has already passed the Inn. Within a month weshall be at Vienna."

It was at Ratisbon that the emperor at last received the news of the armyof Italy which he was impatiently demanding. When attacked, on the 10thApril, by the Archduke John, as the generals separated by Napoleon hadbeen in Germany by the Archduke Charles, Prince Eugène, who was in commandfor the first time, had not been able, as Napoleon was, to retrieve, by asudden stroke and powerful effort, an engagement badly begun. Being unableto hold head against the Austrian forces, he resolved to retire, in orderto rejoin the main body of his army. This retrograde movement he performedwith regret; hesitating, and feeling annoyed by the grumbling of thesoldiers, because they wished to march to the enemy, and by the hesitationof the generals who dared not offer him advice, he halted on the 15thbefore the town of Sacile, and on the 16th made an unexpected attack onthe Archduke John, who on the previous evening had surprised and beatenthe French rearguard at Pordenone, though, as it now appeared, not anybetter guarded himself. Confused at the first moment by an unlooked-forattack, the Austrians defended themselves with great bravery. Theirsuperior forces threatened to cut off our communications, and the prince,afraid of being isolated, ordered retreat when the issue of the battle wasstill uncertain. He had just left the battle-field--which the soldierswould scarcely leave, furious at not having gained the day--when theViceroy of Italy, modest and brave, but evidently not equal to the taskwhich the emperor had imposed upon him, wrote thus to the latter:--"Myfather, I have need of your indulgence. Fearing your blame if I withdrew,I accepted battle, and I have lost it." He accompanied this sad news withno message nor any details, and the want of information annoyed Napoleonstill more than the check undergone by his troops. "Whatever evil may havetaken place," he wrote, "if I had full knowledge of the state of things Ishould decide what to do; but I think it an absurd and frightful thingthat a battle taking place on the 16th, it is now the 26th, without myknowing anything about it. That upsets my plans for the campaign, and Icannot understand what can have suggested to you that singular procedure.I hope to be soon at Salzburg, and make short work in the Tyrol; but forGod's sake! let me know what is going on, and what is the situation of myaffairs in Italy." And on the 30th April: "War is a serious game, in whichone can compromise his reputation and his country. A man of sense mustsoon feel and know if he is made for that profession or not. I know thatin Italy you affect some contempt for Masséna; if I had sent him, thatwhich has happened would not have taken place. Masséna has militaryqualities before which one must humble himself. His faults must be forgot,for all men have their faults. In giving you the command of the army Imade a mistake, and ought to have sent you Masséna, and given you thecommand of the cavalry under his orders. The Prince Royal of Bavariacommands a division under the Duke of Dantzic. Kings of France, emperors,even when reigning, have often commanded a regiment or division under theorders of an old marshal. I think that if matters become pressing youought to write to the King of Naples to come to the army: he will leavethe government to the queen. You will hand over the command to him, andserve under his orders. The case simply is, that you have less experienceof war than a man who has served since he was sixteen. I am not displeasedat the mistakes you have made, but because you don't write to me, and putme in a position to give you advice, and even direct operations from thisplace."

Fortunately for Prince Eugène, as well as the army of Italy, GeneralMacdonald had just arrived at head-quarters, then moved beyond the Pena.Able, honorable, and brave as he had shown himself in the wars of therevolution, Macdonald underwent the weight of imperial disgrace on accountof his intimacy with General Moreau. The young officers of the empire usedto turn to ridicule his grave disposition and simple habits; but thesoldiers loved him, and had confidence in him, and Prince Eugène had thegood sense to let himself be guided by his advice. The retreat beingcontinued to the Adige, the army rested there, waiting for the enemy, whowere slow in coming in. When at last the Archduke John appeared, he durstnot attack the line of the river, and waited for news from Germany. PrinceEugène was still ignorant of the emperor's success. On the 1st of May,Macdonald, who was taking observations, believed he saw a retreatingmovement of the enemy towards the Frioul. "Victory in Germany!" heshouted, running towards the viceroy; "now is the moment to marchforward!" True enough, the Archduke John, being informed of Napoleon'smovement upon Vienna, made haste to return to Germany, in the hope ofjoining his brother, the Archduke Charles. Prince Eugène immediatelystarted in pursuit, passed the Piave hurriedly, and driving the archdukethrough the Carnatic and Julian Alps, marched himself, with a part of hisarmy, towards the victorious emperor. On the 14th May, after dividing hisforces, he sent General Macdonald with one part to meet General Marmont,who was advancing towards Trieste. The army of Italy was soon afterreunited at Wagram.

The first reverses of Prince Eugène were not the only thing to disturb theemperor's joy at Ratisbon. In Tyrol a rising of the peasants, prepared andencouraged by Austrian agents, had suddenly engaged the whole population,men, women, and children, in a determined struggle against the Frenchconquest and the Bavarian domination. A proclamation of the EmperorFrancis was spread through the mountains, and General Chasteler was sentfrom Vienna to put himself at the head of the insurrection. The Bavariangarrisons were few, and the French detachments which came to theirassistance being composed of recruits, the patriotic passion of themountaineers easily triumphed over an enemy of inferior numbers. From Linzto Brunecken all the posts were carried by the Tyrolese; Halle, Innspruck,and Trente quickly fell into the power of the insurgents. A French columnarriving beneath Innspruck when General Chasteler and Hofer had just takenpossession of the place, was surrounded, and compelled to capitulate.General Baraguey d'Hilliers, who occupied Trente, had to fall back uponRoveredo, and then upon Rivoli. The Italian as well as the German Tyrolesehad reconquered their independence; from one end of the mountains to theother re-echoed the name of the Emperor Francis and that of the ArchdukeJohn, whom the peasants were impatiently awaiting since the news of hisfirst successes in Italy. The insurrection had been entirely patriotic,religious, and popular: the first leader, Andrew Hofer, was a grave andpious man, who rejoiced and triumphed with simplicity, asking God's pardonin the churches for the crime and violence which he had been unable toprevent, and which were only acts of reprisal for the Bavarian oppression.The modest glory of the honest innkeeper reached the Emperor Napoleon withthe news of the loss of the Tyrol.

The whole of Germany seemed moved by the same breath of independence inthe subject or conquered countries. In Swabia, Saxony, Hesse, a silentemotion thrilled all hearts; at certain points bands of insurgentscollected together. In Prussia, the instinct of patriotic vengeance wasstill more powerful; the commandant of Berlin gave to the garrison aswatchword "Charles and Ratisbon;" one of the officers at the head of thecavalry here, Major Schill, formerly known as leader of the partisans in1806 and 1807, had just resumed his old task, drawing with him the bodywhich he commanded; and several companies of infantry deserted to joinhim. The protestations of the Prussian ministers were not enough toconvince Napoleon of the ignorance of government with regard to thesehostile manifestations. The Archduke Ferdinand at the head of an army of35,000 men, had just entered Poland, taking by surprise Prince Poniatowskiand the Polish army, still badly organized. After a keenly-contestedbattle in the environs of Raszyn, near Warsaw, Prince Poniatowski wasobliged to surrender his capital, and fall back upon the right bank of theVistula.

Napoleon alone had conquered, and his lieutenants acting for him in moredistant parts, by being surprised or incapable, had only caused himembarrassment. This was a natural and inevitable consequence of a tooextensive power, and a territory too vast to be at all points usefullyoccupied and skilfully defended. All these events confirmed the emperor inthe resolution which he had already taken to march upon Vienna. Neglectingthe Archduke Charles's army, the Marshals Lannes and Bessières crossedBavaria, Napoleon himself setting out for Landshut in order to take themanagement of his forces. Thus the whole army advanced towards the Inn.Masséna took possession of Passau, and by the 1st May all the troops hadcrossed the river. Masséna was ordered to make himself master of Linz, andsecure the bridge over the Danube at Monthausen. There the archdukes andGeneral Hiller might effect their junction, and there, therefore, must theroad to Vienna be opened or closed.

Masséna never hesitated before a difficulty, and never drew back beforethe most fatal necessities. The Austrians were superior to him in number,and occupied excellent positions. Linz was carried and passed through in afew hours. When Napoleon arrived before the small town of Ebersberg whichdefended the bridge, the place, the castle and even the bridge were in ourpower, at the cost of a horrible carnage which caused some emotion to theemperor himself. He refused to occupy Ebersberg, everywhere swimming inblood and strewed with dead bodies. There was still a rallying-point leftto the archdukes at the bridge of Krems, but they did not think they coulddefend it. The Archduke Louis and General Hiller passed to the right bankof the Danube, and the road to Vienna lay open.

Generally slow in his operations, the Archduke Charles was too far fromthe capital to assist it. The place had made no preparations for defence,but the population was animated by great patriotic zeal, and the sight ofthe French troops before the gates at once caused a rising. The new town,which was open and without ramparts, was quickly in our power.Preparations were made to defend the walls of the old town, behind whichthe Archduke Maximilian was entrenched, with from 15,000 to 18,000 regulartroops.

Napoleon took up his abode at Schönbrunn, in the palace abandoned by theEmperor Francis; and after appointing as governor of Vienna, GeneralAndréossy, recently his ambassador in Austria, waited calmly for theresult of the bombardment. The archduke had imprudently exposed the townto an irresistible attack: on the morning of the 12th May he left Viennawith the greater part of his troops, leaving to General O'Reilly the sadduty of concluding the capitulation. The French took possession of theplace on the 13th. The population were still excited when Napoleon issueda proclamation denouncing the princes of the house of Lorraine for havingdeserted, "not as soldiers of honor yielding to the circumstances andreverses of war, but as perjurers pursued by their remorse. On runningaway from Vienna their farewells to its inhabitants were fire andbloodshed; like Medea, they have cut the throats of their children withtheir own hands. Soldiers! the people of Vienna, to use the expression ofthe deputation from its faubourgs, are forsaken, abandoned, and widowed;they will be the object of your regards. I take the good citizens under myspecial protection. As to turbulent and bad men, I shall make examples ofthem in the ends of justice. Soldiers! Let us treat kindly the poorpeasants, and this good population who have so many claims upon ouresteem. Let us not be made haughty by our success; but let us see in it aproof of that divine justice which punishes the ungrateful and theperjured."

That boundless vanity which always pervaded Napoleon's soul, in spite ofhis protestations of thankfulness towards divine justice, did not preventhim from clearly seeing beforehand the difficulties which surrounded him,and the obstacles still to be overcome, even after reaching Vienna, andgaining the victory in every battle. Success had again attended on all hiscombinations, and the extreme extension of his forces. Prince Eugène afterrecovering the advantage over Archduke John, was now coming nearer theemperor as he pursued the enemy. Marshal Lefebvre at the head of theBavarians and French divisions, had commenced offensive operations againstGeneral Chasteler and Jellachich, come to the assistance of Tyrol, andafter beating their forces and those of the mountaineers combined atWorgel, on the 13th May, advanced to Innspruck and took possession of it.The peasants had retired to the mountains, and the Austrian forces fellback upon Hungary. Prince Poniatowski defended victoriously the right bankof the Vistula, and threatened Cracow, while Galicia was rising in favorof Polish independence. The Archduke Charles's army, however, stillexisted--large, powerful and eager to avenge its defeats. The ArchdukeLouis had brought him the remainder of the troops, and the Archduke Johnwas advancing to the assistance of his brothers. In order to prevent thisjunction, and conquer his enemy before he had been reinforced by the armyof Italy, Napoleon decided upon crossing the Danube in the very suburbs ofthe capital, by making use of the numerous islets there. At the island ofLobau, which was the point chosen for the passage, the bed of the Danubewas broad and deep; and the island not being in the middle of the stream,the branch separating it from the bank was comparatively narrow. Theemperor gave orders to construct bridges.

The attempt was a bold one at any time; it was rash, at the moment whenthe waters of the Danube, swollen by the melting of the snow, threatenedto sweep away the bridges, prepared with difficulty, on which depended thesuccess of the operation. On the 20th May, Marshal Masséna's troopscrossed the river entirely, and took up position in the villages ofAspern, and Essling; a ditch full of water joined the two villages, andits banks were immediately covered with troops. The archduke's advance-guard had alone appeared, till at three o'clock in the afternoon of the21st May, the Austrian army, 70,000 to 80,000 men strong, at last pouredon the plain of Marchfeld. The large bridge thrown from the right bank tothe island of Lobau had been broken for the second time during the night,and therefore only 35,000 or 40,000 Frenchmen were there to meet theenemy. The emperor, however, was there, the bridge was about to berepaired, and the generals were opposed to every thought of retreat.Marshal Lannes had gone forward to occupy Essling, while General Molitorhad fortified himself in Aspern. The struggle began with the passionateardor of men playing the great game in which their glory or theircountry's liberty is at stake. The position at Aspern, covering the bridgeto the island of Lobau, was several times taken and retaken, till at lastMolitor barricaded the houses of the village, and drove back the Austrianattack with the bayonet. No assault, however fierce, was able to dislodgeMasséna from the burying-ground, nor Lannes from the village of Essling.At one time the Prince of Hohenzollern's division was very nearly cuttingoff our communication between the two villages, at sight of which Lannes,turning towards Marshal Bessières, ordered him, in a voice of thunder, andwithout regard for his rank or age, to put himself at the head of thecuirassiers for a "thorough" charge. Deeply hurt by this order, and thetone in which it was given, Bessières deferred demanding an explanation,and made a dash upon the Austrian lines. He had to meet in succession theartillery, the infantry, and the cavalry; General Espagne, who was incharge of the heavy horse, was killed by his side; then General Lasallemade a charge in his turn, bringing to the marshal assistance of which hestood in great need, and Prince Hohenzollern's division was stopped. Inthe evening, when bivouacking, the emperor was obliged to interpose toprevent Lannes and Bessières from using against each other the swordswhich they had so gallantly used during the fighting against the enemy.

The archduke having ordered retreat after nightfall, both armies camped intheir positions. Large forces had already crossed the Danube, includingthe whole corps of General Lannes. The guard also arrived, which had notyet shared in any engagement during the campaign. Seventy or seventy-fivethousand men having reached the left bank, they only waited for MarshalDavout's corps, which had received orders to hasten its march, when thelarge bridge broke for the third time. Part of the artillery and most ofthe ammunition-wagons were still on the right bank. When communication wasagain affected, the fighting was everywhere carried on with fresh fury.

Another attack was made on the villages of Aspern and Essling, which hadalready been reduced to ruins. One after another, Masséna recovered thepositions which Molitor was forced on the previous evening to abandon; healso carried the church occupied by the Austrian general, Vacquant. Lanneshad received orders, while protecting Essling, to march into the plain,and by a circular movement pierce the enemy's line and cut them in two.This operation was about to be accomplished, and the marshal sent an aide-de-camp to the emperor to ask him to have his rear protected by the guardon his leaving Essling unprotected, when frightful news was brought toNapoleon. The trunks of trees, stones, and rubbish of every kind, broughtdown by the rapid current of the river, had again broken the cables whichheld together the boats composing the great bridge, and both parts werecarried down the stream, taking with them a squadron of cuirassiers, whowere then defiling over. The passage of the troops being stopped, and theammunition running short, Napoleon ordered Lannes to fall back on the lineof the villages and abandon the pursuit of the Austrians, who were justbefore that hardly pressed everywhere. Whilst the marshal, bitterlydisappointed, was effecting this backward movement, the archduke orderedall his artillery to be directed upon him: General St. Hilaire was killedat the head of his division, and whole files of General Oudinot'sregiments were shot down--unfortunate lads, so recently enrolled thattheir officers durst not deploy them before the enemy. It was now midday;Major-General Berthier had just written to Marshal Davout, retained on theopposite bank of the Danube: "The interruption of the bridge has preventedprovision-supplies: at ten o'clock we were short of ammunition, and theenemy, perceiving it, marched back upon us. Two hundred guns, to which wecannot reply, have done us much harm. In these circumstances, it isextremely important to repair the bridges and send ammunition and food.Write to the Prince of Ponte Corvo (Bernadotte) not to open a campaign inBohemia, and to General Lauriston to be ready to join us. See that Darusends us ambulance-stores and provisions of every kind. As soon as thebridge is ready, or during the night, come and have a consultation withthe emperor."

At the same moment the Austrians began a movement similar to that whichLannes so recently was on the point of effecting. The Archduke Charlescombined his best troops, to overpower our centre and finally break ourlines. Marshal Lannes was immediately on the spot, bringing up in closesuccession the already decimated divisions--the cuirassiers, the oldguard; and these were soon supported by the charges of the light cavalry.The conflict was now frightful. The French artillery, placed on the bankof the ditch connecting Aspern and Essling, fired slowly, with theprecaution and prudence due to their shortness of ammunition, while theAustrian cannons thundered unceasingly. Lannes galloped in front of hisregiments, which were immovable before the enemy, whose advance had beenstopped; and when encouraging his soldiers by gesture and voice, one ofhis aides-de-camp conjured him to dismount. When in the act of obeying, acannon-ball struck him, shattering both his knees. Marshal Bessièresassisted his terrified officers in wrapping round him a cuirassier's cloakand getting him carried to an ambulance; but, recollecting his irritationof the evening before, he turned away his head as he grasped the hand ofhis dying friend, lest the sight of him should cause any sorrow orvexation.

Ominous news were now coming from all parts to Napoleon, who had notquitted the angle formed by the line between Aspern and Essling. MarshalMasséna still kept in the midst of the smoking ruins which marked the spotwhere stood so recently the pretty village of Aspern. The Austrians wereadvancing in dense masses against the village of Essling. MarshalBessières defended that post, indispensable to the safety of the army. Theemperor sent for the fusileers of the guard and placed them under GeneralMouton's orders. "I give them to you," said he; "make another effort tosave the army; but let us put an end to this! After these, I have only thegrenadiers and chasseurs of the old guard; they must be reserved for adisaster." General Mouton advanced, and his first effort was rewarded byfreeing General Baudet, who was hemmed in in a barn, which he defendedlike a fortress. Five times did the enemy return to the charge, and nowthey prepared for a new attack, when General Rapp, shouting, "The emperorsays we must put an end to this!" combined his forces with Mouton's, andboth rushed forward, followed by their soldiers, with their bayonets infront and their heads held low. The Austrians at last recoiled, andEssling remained in our hands. The battery which had been raised on theisland of Lobau had fired with effect upon the masses of the enemy when,for a short time, they were near the river. The bridge was free, the onlyway left us to effect our retreat, when night at last permitted us towithdraw without disgrace or danger. The long summer's day was at itsclose.

Having for a long time understood the necessity of this backward movement,the emperor longed only for its execution, and wished to inspect himselfthe resources of defence afforded by the island of Lobau. He would nothear of leaving the battlefield without being certain of the position ofAspern, and sent to ask Masséna if he could undertake to hold the village,as he had constantly done for the two previous days. The old soldier wassitting on a heap of ruins, in the midst of the smoking remains of theplace, and, rising at the first words of the aide-de-camp, he stretchedout his arm towards the Danube, as if to hasten the messenger's return:"Go and tell the emperor that I shall keep here two hours, six, twenty-four, if need be--so long as the safety of the army requires it."

The Archduke Charles, however, was himself tired of a struggle that led tono decision--cruel and bloody beyond all that he had seen in his longmilitary career. He had brought together all his forces, and placed allhis artillery in a line, in order to crush once more with his cannon-shotthe invincible battalions which separated him from the river and stillforbade his passage. General Mouton brought to this threatened point thefusileers of the guard who had just freed Essling; our dismounted gunsreplied at rare intervals to the continued fire of the enemy; the bodiesof infantry, slightly protected by the inequalities of the ground, weremassed behind useless cannon, and supported by the cavalry, which coveredat one part the road from Essling to Aspern, and at another theunprotected space between Essling and the Danube. Parallel to them werearranged the guard in order. All these glorious remnants of a two days'unexampled struggle, motionless under the cannon-balls, looked in silenceupon their officers moving about in front of the lines between the cannonof the enemy and the men whom they commanded. "Only one word escaped ourlips," said General Mouton, afterwards Count Lobau, when telling the storyof that day; "we had only one thing to say, 'close up the ranks!' wheneverthe soldiers fell under the fire of the archduke's 200 guns."

On crossing to the entrance of the bridge on the river's bank, where therewere confused heaps of wounded men, transport carts, empty artillery-wagons, and dismounted guns, Napoleon went to see Marshal Lannes, who hadjust undergone amputation, and showed more emotion than he usually showedat the tragical end of his lieutenants. The dying farewell of theillustrious officer to his chief, still unsated with glory and conquest,has been told in various ways. The emperor himself reported the words ashe wished them to be known, full of kindness and sadness on the part ofLannes. Some of those who stood by reported that the instinct of the dyingsoldier awoke with the bluntness frequently characterizing it, and thatLannes cursed the cruel ambition which strewed Napoleon's brilliant routewith the corpses of his friends. He only survived that scene two days, andwas praised as he deserved by Napoleon. On again mounting his horse, theemperor inspected the island of Lobau in detail, and satisfied himselfthat the position could be easily defended by a large body of troops wellequipped and well commanded. He resolved to leave Masséna there--thenatural leader in all cases of supreme resistance--while he madepreparations at Vienna and on the right bank of the Danube fordefinitively crossing the river and bringing the campaign to a close. Hisproject thus conceived, and combinations decided on in his mind, theemperor repassed the small arm of the river, and, stopping at the head ofthe bridge, called his generals around him. It was nightfall; the battlehad finished; on both sides they were still occupied in removing thewounded; the dead everywhere strewed the plain, the border of the ditch,and the ruins of the villages. Napoleon held a council of war on thefield, on that bank of the Danube defended during two days with so muchobstinacy.

The emperor was not accustomed to consult his generals, his thought wasspontaneous as his will was imperious. On the evening of the 22nd of May,he listened patiently to the ideas, the objections, even the complaints ofthe generals who surrounded him. Nearly all were discouraged, andconceived the necessity of a complete and long retreat; they weighed,however, all the inconveniences of this, and felt beforehand all thehumiliation; their perplexity was extreme. Napoleon at last spoke; hisplan was decided. By abandoning the island of Lobau, and repassing thegreat arm of the Danube with the entire army, it would be necessary toleave behind 10,000 wounded, the whole of the artillery, to be coveredwith disgrace, and consequently to bring about at once a rising inGermany, which was ready to fall eagerly upon an enemy she believedvanquished. It was not the retreat on Vienna, which would be thusprepared; it was the retreat upon Strasburg. What they must do was tooccupy the island of Lobau with 40,000 men, under the orders of Masséna;to appoint Davout to protect Vienna and the right bank of the Danubeagainst the attacks of the Archduke Charles, and prevent him fromeffecting his junction with the Archduke John; while all the personalefforts of Napoleon would be directed to repairing the great bridge,preparing provisions and transports, concentrating his troops until theday when, rejoined by Prince Eugène, and sure of traversing the Danubevictoriously, he would again unite the entire army to crush his enemies bya decisive blow, thus terminating the campaign gloriously on a field ofbattle already chosen in the conqueror's mind.

As he spoke, developing his plan with that powerful and spontaneouseloquence which he drew from the abundance and clearness of his thoughts,his generals listened, and felt their trouble disappear, and the heroicardor of the combat take possession of their hearts. Masséna rose, carriedaway by his admiration, forgetful of his habitual ill-humor and thediscontent he so constantly manifested. He took several steps towards theemperor. "Sire, you are a great man," cried he, "and worthy to command menlike myself. Leave me here, and I promise you to fling into the Danube allthe Austrian forces who may try to dislodge me." Marshal Davout undertook,in the same way, to defend Vienna. Tranquillity had reappeared on everyface. Within the limits of that plain covered with dead, by the side ofthe wagons ceaselessly defiling with wounded and dying, a great workremained to be done, a great enterprise to be achieved, whatever obstaclesmight present themselves. Hope had reappeared, together with the end to bepursued. Napoleon crossed the island and embarked with Berthier and Savaryin a small boat, which brought him back safely to the right bank of theriver. Masséna returned to Aspern, momentarily invested with the chiefcommand. The retreat commenced.

The cannonade was still heard in the plain, but faint, and separated bylong intervals; the artillerymen, worn out, stood to their guns with greatdifficulty. The Austrians were overcome with fatigue; already severalcorps had passed into the island under cover of the darkness, when theArchduke Charles at length perceived that we were escaping from him. He atonce began to follow, but slowly, without spirit or eagerness. The troopsdefiled in order over the little bridge which Marshal Masséna protected inperson. He remained almost alone upon the bank, his entire army havingeffected its retreat; and after collecting the arms and horses abandonedby the soldiers, he at last resolved to follow his men and destroy thebridge behind him, intrepid to the last moment in his retrograde movement,as the captain of a shipwrecked vessel is the last to quit the remains ofhis ship. Day was now dawning; the balls from the enemy's batteriesrecommenced to rain around him, when the marshal at length gained thecentre of the island, beyond their range.

More than 40,000 French or Austrians, dead or wounded, had fallen in thestruggle of these two terrible days. In spite of the emphatic bulletins ofthe Emperor Napoleon, Europe looked upon the battle of Essling as astriking check to our arms. The warlike excitement of Germany increased;the Tyroleans were again rising, and General Deroy found himself forced toevacuate Innspruck; a corps of German refuges, under the orders of theDuke of Brunswick-Oels, took the road to Dresden, the court immediatelytaking refuge in Leipzic; a second detachment threatened King Jerome inWestphalia. He was afraid for his crown, and the emperor wrote to him onthe 9th June: "The English are not to be feared; all their forces are inSpain and Portugal. They will do nothing--they can do nothing, in Germany;besides, time enough when they do. As to Schill, he is of little moment,and has already put himself out of the question by retreating towardsStralsund. General Gratien and the Danes will probably give an account ofhim. The Duke of Brunswick has not 8000 men; the former Elector of Casselhas not 600. Before making a movement it is well to see clearly.Experience will show you the difference there is between the reportsspread by the enemy and the reality. Never, during sixteen years that Ihave commanded, have I countermanded a regiment, because I always wait foran affair to be ripe, and have thorough knowledge before commencingoperations. There is no need for anxiety; you have nothing to fear, allthis is nothing but rumor."

At Paris, where the most confident had become anxious, Napoleon severelyreprimanded the timid. He wrote, on the 19th May, to General Clarke, theminister of war: "Sir, you have alarmed Paris too much about the affairsof Prussia, even if it were true that she had attacked us. Prussia is ofvery small importance, and I shall never want for means to enforce hersubmission--all the more so when these reports are contradicted. You havenot used sufficient prudence on this occasion; it produces a bad effectfor any power to imagine that I am without resource. The minister ofpolice has taken his text from this to make a lot of foolish talk, whichis very much out of place."

Austria had in fact sent to Prussia an ambassador with instructions toengage King Frederick William to break his chains, and take at last hispart in the resistance; but that monarch had refused. "Not yet," said he;"it is too soon I am not ready; when I come, I will not come alone. Onlystrike one other blow." The efforts of Major Schill had not beensupported, and that courageous partisan had failed under the walls ofStralsund. The secret diplomacy of Austria appeared to have met with morefavor at St. Petersburg; the declaration of war by Russia against Austriaremained absolutely without result; the Russian troops which were inPoland seemed more disposed to suppress the insurrection of Galicia thanto second the efforts of Prince Poniatowski.

It was one of the great characteristics of the genius of the EmperorNapoleon to place no importance upon reports or appearances, although hewas not ignorant of their action on the public. In his publicproclamations he made an effort to disguise the check he had received atEssling; but in practice, in his military operations he comprehended allthe gravity of it, without allowing himself to be troubled an instant bybad fortune; he even derived original and powerful combinations from theembarrassments of his situation. Prince Eugène had already joined him nearVienna (26th May, 1809), driving back the Archduke John upon Hungary, andoverthrowing the corps of the Jellachich Ban, which had in vain tried tostop his progress at Mount Saint-Michel, near Leoben. The army of Italywas not to rest long, the emperor having immediately sent his adopted sonto follow the traces of the archduke. "To do the utmost harm to thearchduke; to drive him back to the Danube; to intercept his communicationswith Chastelar and Giulay, who apparently intend to join him; to reducethe fortress of Graetz by isolating it, and to maintain yourcommunications on the left with the duke of Auerstaedt, to construct thebridges on the Raab--these should be your aims," wrote the emperor toPrince Eugène, on the 13th June, and on the 15th: "It is probable thatRaab has not sufficient fortifications for the enemy to dare to place aconsiderable garrison there of his best troops. If he only puts in badones the town will surrender on being invested, which will give us theadvantage of taking his men, and of having a good post. If the archdukeflies before you, you will pursue him, so that he may not be able to passthe Danube at Komorn, where there is, I think, no bridge, but he may beobliged to take refuge at Bude: do not go farther from me. The line behindthe Raab is, I think, suitable for you, because my bridges over the Danubewill be completed, and I can recall you in four days, taking at least twofrom the enemy, which will permit you to be present at the battle, whilethe enemy will be unable to be there. Your aim, then, is to hinder himfrom passing to Komorn, and then to oblige him to throw himself upon Bude,which will take him away from Vienna."

On the 14th June, even before Napoleon had written these last lines,Prince Eugène, after an obstinate combat, had taken from the ArchdukeJohn, and his brother the Archduke Palatine, the important line of theRaab. Generals Broussier and Marmont had effected their junction in theenvirons of Graetz, repulsing the attacks of the Giulay Ban; GeneralMacdonald, whom the Viceroy of Italy had left behind at Papa, for thepurpose of facilitating this concentration of forces, arrived on the fieldof battle when the day was gained; the archdukes were driven behind theDanube, and the troops furnished by the Hungarian nobility, weredispersed. "I compliment you on the battle of Raab," wrote the emperor toPrince Eugène; "it is the grand-daughter of Marengo and Friedland."General Lauriston immediately laid siege to the place, which capitulatedon the 23rd June. Marshal Davout had bombarded Presburg without effect forseveral days, in the hope of succeeding in destroying the bridge; thegarrison defended itself heroically. Every means had been adopted torapidly concentrate the whole of the French forces upon Vienna, and tofrustrate everywhere the progress of the enemy. Large reinforcements hadarrived from France. The emperor himself directed the preparations on theDanube, displaying in this work all the resources of his most inventivegenius, and that faculty of usefully employing the talent of others whichconstitutes one of the most necessary elements of government. At thecommencement of July all was at length ready--men, provisions, ammunition,and bridges. "With God's help," wrote Napoleon to King Jerome, on the 4thJuly, "in spite of his redoubts and his entrenched camps, I hope to crushthe army of the Archduke Charles."

During the forty days which had elapsed since the battle of Essling, theArchduke Charles had limited his efforts to fortifying his positions onthe left bank of the Danube, without attempting any offensive operationsagainst Napoleon, and had in vain waited for the reinforcements that hisbrothers, and the generals dispersed over the Austrian territory, were tobring him. The skilful generals of Napoleon had everywhere interceptedtheir communications. However, 130,000 or 140,000 of the enemy prepared todispute with us the passage of the Danube. One hundred and fifty thousandFrench were assembled around Vienna; Massena had not quitted the island ofLobau; Napoleon established himself there with his staff on the 1st July.

Skilful and learned in the theory of war, the Archduke Charles felt hisinferiority in face of the unexpected genius of the Emperor Napoleon. Hehad carefully fortified Aspern, Essling, Ensdorf, but he had not foreseenthat the place of disembarkation, and the point of attack, would bechanged. The heights which ranged from Neusiedel to Wagram, well occupiedby excellent troops, were not furnished with redoubts; it was, however,these same heights the conqueror was about to attack.

The bridges which united the right bank to the island of Lobau were atpresent out of danger from all inundations and accidents. New andingenious inventions had utilized all the resources drawn from themagazines of Vienna and the vast forests of Austria. A stockade protectedthe roadway, and flying bridges of an extraordinary size and soliditycould be thrown in several hours over the small arm of the stream whichseparated the island of Lobau from the left bank. Two days previously thearchduke had quitted the heights to approach the banks of the Danube,waiting uselessly for the attack of the enemy; on the 3rd July he drewback his forces towards the hills. The columns of the French continued todefile over the great bridge, and massed themselves little by little onthe island. The cannon-balls of the enemy began to rain on the shores ofLobau, but the space was too vast to permit the Austrian batteries tosweep the interior. During the night of the 4th the first bridges werethrown over the small arm of the Danube between the island and themainland; flat-bottomed boats brought over soldiers without interruption,and these moored the boats and fixed the plankings. The enemy's fire hadbecome incessant and deadly. The engineers continued their work withoutappearing to perceive the danger which threatened them, any more than thethunder which rolled over their heads, the lightning which flashed throughthe darkness, or the rain, which did not cease to fall in torrents. Thebatteries of the island of Lobau were at length unmasked, everywherefurnished with guns of the largest calibre, and the fire was directedtowards the little town of Enzensdorf; after that the Archduke Charlescould not deceive himself as to the menaced point. The troops of theAustrian General Nordmann, which had occupied the plain, had fallen backunder the fire of the guns. The day rose brilliant and pure, the lastclouds massed by the storm were dispersed by the rays of the sun. The longfiles of our troops advanced without precipitation and without disorder;at the first break of day, the emperor himself had crossed the river.

The Archduke Charles contemplated this scene from the heights of Wagram.His advanced posts had already been forced to give up to their enemies theground they had occupied the day before. The Austrian general had not yetcounted on the irresistible impetuosity of the torrent of men, horses, andartillery, which the island of Lobau continued to vomit on the shores ofthe Danube. "It is true that they have conquered the river." said theArchduke Charles to his brother the Emperor Francis, standing by his side."I allow them to pass, that I may drive them presently into its waves.""All right," said the emperor, dryly; "but do not let too many pass."Seventy thousand French already deployed in the plain. As they defiledpast, the soldiers cried, "Long live the emperor !"

The town of Enzensdorf was merely a mass of ruins when Marshal Massénacommanded the attack upon it, and the little corps of Austrians defendingit were soon put to the sword; while on the right, General Oudinot hadtaken possession of the chateau of Sachsengang. The entire army advanced,without obstacle, against the heights of Wagram; Essling and Aspern wereoccupied by our troops. The dispositions of the troops of the ArchdukeCharles were not made; he was obliged to order detached bodies to retreat,abandoning positions which were badly defended; the great battle wasdeferred till the morrow. A rash attack against the plateau of Wagram wasrepulsed, and for a moment several corps were in disorder; the retreatsounded, and the troops bivouacked at their posts. The last instructionshad been given. Marshal Davout alone still remained with the emperor. TheArchduke Charles did not sleep--the supreme effort of the Austrianmonarchy was to be tried at the break of day.

The extent of the field of battle, and the distance between the positions,presented serious difficulties for both armies. The genius of organizationpossessed by the Emperor Napoleon had in some measure obviated this by thecare he had taken of his centre; the Archduke Charles felt it from thecommencement of the combat. Obliged to send his orders great distances, hesaw them badly obeyed; the left wing of his army attacked us first,whereas the right wing had been intended to take the offensive. Contraryto his custom, the Emperor Napoleon had ordered his troops to wait for theenemy.

It was four o'clock in the morning when the fire commenced. MarshalBernadotte, who had remained in advance on the field of battle after hisattack of the previous night against the plateau of Wagram, found himselfmenaced by the Austrians, and fell back on Marshal Masséna, still ill froma fall from his horse, and commanding his corps from an open carriage. Thetwo marshals had brought back their troops against the little village ofAderklaa; but the archduke occupied it; the French were repulsed, andpushed by the enemy beyond Essling, which had again fallen into the handsof the Austrians.

Meantime, Marshal Davout, on the extreme right, had vigorously resistedthe first attack of the columns of Rosenberg, and obliged the Austrians torepass the rivulet of Russbach, and fall back upon Neusiedel. The marshalthrew all his forces immediately against them. It was to him that wasconfided the honor of taking the plateau of Wagram.

The emperor had joined Marshal Masséna, talking a few minutes with himunder a storm of balls which fell round the carriage: Napoleon walked hishorse across the plain, impatiently waiting the great movement that he hadordered on the centre. At the head advanced a division of the army ofItaly, commanded by Macdonald, little known to the young soldiers becauseof his long disgrace; he marched proudly, attired in his old uniform ofthe armies of the republic. Napoleon saw him unmoved under the fire,attentive to the least incidents of the battle: "Ah, the fine fellow! thefine fellow!" he repeated in a low voice.

The artillery of the guard arrived at a gallop, supporting by its hundredguns the impetuous attack of the centre: the Austrians recoiled from thisenormous mass, the irresistible impulse of which nothing could stay.Macdonald had already reached Sussenbrunn, where the archduke and hisgenerals had concentrated their last effort; and the French columns werestopped by their desperate resistance. For a moment they seemed destinedto retreat in their turn; but Davout had succeeded in his attack againstthe heights of Neusiedel. The plateau of Wagram was in our hands; GeneralOudinot had effected his junction, after taking the position ofBaumersdorf; and the Prince of Hohenzollern retreated before them. In vainthe Archduke Charles had hoped to see his brother, the Archduke John,arrive in time to restore their chance; the struggle lasted for more thanten hours--all the positions had fallen into our power; the retreat of theAustrian army commenced, regular and well ordered, without precipitationor rout. Disorder, on the contrary, showed itself in the ranks of theconquerors, when, at the last moments of the struggle, some soldiers ofthe vanguard of the Archduke John appeared in the environs ofLeopoldsdorf. The young troops, already disbanded in the joy of thevictory--the servants of the army, the sutlers, the carriers of thewounded, were seized with a panic terror, and fell back with loud cries onthe main body of the army, announcing that the enemy were returning tocrush us. It was too late; the Archduke John had slowly executed theorders tardily received. His arrival could not change the issue of thebattle; he fell back upon Hungary. The Archduke Charles had taken the roadto Bohemia before the Emperor Napoleon was well informed of his march. Thepursuit was, therefore, divided between Bohemia and Moravia. The forces ofthe enemy were dispersed during their retreat. The archduke had with himabout 60,000 men, when General Marmont, with a corps of only 10,000,rejoined him at Znaïm, on the road to Prague.

It was there that Napoleon arrived on the 11th; Masséna was in advance,and a battle took place on the banks of the Taya, and after a sharp combatthe bridge was forced. But already Prince John of Lichtenstein had come toask a suspension of hostilities, announcing openly the intention of theAustrian government to begin negotiations for peace. The deliberationswere carried on at the head-quarters, while the army ranged itself in theplain of Znaïm. The emperor recapitulated rapidly in his mind the dangersand chances of a prolonged war. The opinion of several of his generals wasto follow up Austria, and crush the coalition finally. Napoleon felt theenormous burden weighing on his shoulders: he saw a difficult andlingering war in Spain, Prussia agitated, Russia cold and secretly ill-disposed, the difficulties of Rome, England for the future taking her partin the continental struggle: he cried, "Enough blood has been shed; let usmake peace!" It was necessary to repeat his words several times to thehostile parties at Znaïm, to induce them to cease fighting. The officerswhose duty it was to carry the intelligence to the field of battle werewounded before they were able to stop the combat.

The armistice was signed in the night of the 11th July, and Napoleonimmediately returned to Schoenbrunn. Negotiations had commenced, but theirsuccess was by no means sure. The Austrian armies had been brilliantlyvanquished, but they were neither dispersed nor destroyed, and the effortstheir resistance had cost sufficiently proved the military qualities ofthe chief and his soldiers. The Emperor Napoleon, encamped in the centreof the Austrian monarchy--of which he occupied the capital; he could not,and durst not in any way, relax his warlike watchfulness. New bodies ofmen were summoned from France. The Tyrol not being comprised in thearmistice, the Bavarians and Prince Eugène were ordered to reduce its twoportions, German and Italian. The posts were everywhere fortified, andworks of defence pursued with vigor. The greater part of the army occupiedvast barracks in the suburbs of Vienna. Napoleon distributed rewards tothe officers and soldiers; he even showed his displeasure to MarshalBernadotte, who had presumed to address a personal order of the day to thecorps of the army under his direction at Wagram.

"His Majesty commands his army in person," he sent word to the Prince ofPontecorvo by Major-General Berthier; "it belongs to him alone todistribute the degree of glory with each merits." Napoleon added, in aletter to the minister of war, "I am glad also that you are aware that thePrince of Pontecorvo has not always conducted himself well in thiscampaign. The truth is, that this column of bronze has been constantly indisorder." By thus wounding his vanity, unexpected political difficultiesafterwards arose, by leaving in the heart of Bernadotte implacableresentment against the emperor.

I wished to pursue without interruption the history of the campaign ofGermany during these three months, so fertile in obstinate combats, inworks as vast as they were novel, in pitched battles, more sanguinary andimportant from the number of troops engaged than any which had precededthem. Germany was not, however, the only theatre of the struggle; and theattention of Europe, always attracted to the places where Napoleoncommanded in person and carried out his own plans, was occasionallydiverted towards the Spanish and Portuguese peninsula. There several ofthe most skilful generals of the emperor fought against populationseagerly struggling for their independence; there gradually rose togreatness the name of Sir Arthur Wellesley, and that reputation forstability and heroic perseverance which at a later date constituted hispower and splendor.

Fighting was carried on in Spain, not without glory or success; theinsurgents having more than once had the honor of annoying the all-powerful conqueror in the midst of his triumphs. There was no fighting atRome, and oppression reigned there without material resistance; yet formore than a year a struggle continued between the Emperor Napoleon and thePope, Pius VII., without all the advantages remaining on the side offorce, or the conqueror feeling certain that he held the prey he hadconfided to the care of General Miollis. On the 6th July, 1809, the sameday as the battle of Wagram, the Pope was suddenly taken away from Rome,and conducted as a prisoner out of that palace and that town which he hadnever previously quitted, except to visit Paris for the purpose ofconsecrating the very man who was to-day stripping him of his throne.Since the month of February, 1808, the thoughts and hearts of many hadstill found time to seek the aged pontiff at the Quirinal, and they nowfollowed him with sympathy into exile and captivity.

After the occupation of Rome by General Miollis, when the foreigncardinals had received orders to return to their respective countries, andthe Pope had recalled his legate from Paris, the Emperor Napoleon, onstepping into his carriage to visit Bayonne, had ordered Champagny totransmit to Cardinal Caprara the following note:---

"The _sine quâ non_ of the emperor is, that all Italy, Rome, Naples, andMilan make a league offensive and defensive, so as to remove disorder andwar from the peninsula. If the holy father consents to this proposition,all is terminated; if he refuses, by that he declares war against theemperor. The first result of war is conquest, and the first result ofconquest is change of government. This will not occasion any loss to thespiritual rights of the Pope; he will be Bishop of Rome, as have been allhis predecessors in the eight first centuries, and under Charlemagne. Itwill, however, be a subject of regret, which the emperor will be the firstto feel, to see foolish vanity, obstinacy and ignorance destroy the workof genius, policy and enlightenment.

"The recall of your Eminence is notified contrary to custom, against theformalities in usage, and on the eve of the Passion week--threecircumstances which sufficiently explain the charitable and entirelyevangelical spirit of the holy father. No matter, his Majesty recognizesyour Eminence no more as legate. From this moment the Gallican Churchresumes all the integrity of its doctrine. More learned, more trulyreligious, than the Church of Rome, she has no want of the latter. I sendto your eminence the passports you have demanded. We are thus at war, andhis Majesty has given orders in consequence. His Holiness will besatisfied--he will have the happiness of declaring war in the holy week.The thunders of the Vatican will be all the more formidable. His Majestyfears them less than those of the castle of St. Angelo. He who curseskings, is cursed by God."

At the same time, and by order of Napoleon, a decree was preparedenumerating all the grievances of which he accused the court of Rome, andenacting that "the provinces of Urbino, Ancona, Macerata, and Camerino,should be irrevocably and forever united to the kingdom of Italy, to formthree new departments." The Code Napoleon was to be proclaimed there.

The violent and arbitrary measures employed by the emperor towards thePope naturally bore their fruits. In removing from Pius VII. the cardinalswho were not natives of the Roman states, he had deprived the pontiff ofthe most enlightened and moderate counsels which could reach his ears, andhad delivered him, in his weakness and just indignation, to all theinfluences against which Cardinal Consalvi had constantly struggled. Fromthis time every despotic act of Napoleon, every rude word of the soldierscharged to execute his orders, increased the irritation of the Pope, andurged him to advance on a course of blind resistance. A prohibition toswear allegiance to the new government was addressed to the bishops andall the priests of the territories taken away from the pontifical states;this prohibition was founded upon principles of dogma and religion.Henceforth the personal will of the Pope, his dignity as a sovereign, andhis conscience as a priest, were all engaged in the struggle against theEmperor Napoleon. "Those who have succeeded in alarming the conscience ofthe holy father are still the strongest," Lefebvre, the chargé-d'affairesof France, who had not yet quitted Rome, wrote to Champagny. "The tenor ofthe reply to the ultimatum that I have been instructed to remit to him hasbeen changed twice this morning--so much did they still hesitate upon thedecision to take. The theologians themselves were divided even in theSacred College, and I doubt not that the refusal of his Holiness to agreewith the emperor will throw into consternation a number of his warmestpartisans."

The rupture was from this time official, and the relations of the Popewith the French authorities who occupied the pontifical city became everyday more bitter. Pius VII. had chosen for his secretary of state, CardinalPacca, witty, amiable, devoted to the holy father, but strongly attachedto the most narrow ideas as to the government of the Roman Church in theworld; in other respects, prudent in his conduct towards General Miollis,and often excited to action by the Pope, who complained of his timidity."They pretend in Rome that we are asleep," said Pius VII. to his minister;"we must prove that we are awake, and address a vigorous note to theFrench general." The protest was posted everywhere in Rome, on the morningof the 24th August, 1808; eight days later, and under the pretext that thesecretary of state interfered with the recruiting for the civic guard,Cardinal Pacca received the order to quit Rome in twenty-four hours. "YourEminence will find at the gate of St. John an escort of dragoons, whoseduty is to accompany you to Benevento, your native town." In the meantimea French officer was appointed to watch over the cardinal. The latter wasstill talking with his jailer, when Pius VII. suddenly entered the cabinetof his minister.

"I was then witness of a phenomenon which I had often heard spoken of,"relates Cardinal Pacca in his memoirs. "In an access of violent anger, thehair of the holy father bristled up, and his sight was confused. AlthoughI was dressed as a cardinal, he did not know me. 'Who is there?' hedemanded, in a loud voice. 'I am the cardinal,' I replied, kissing hishand. 'Where is the officer?' demanded the holy father; and I pointed himout near me, in a respectful attitude. Then the Pope, turning towards him,'Go and tell your general that I am weary of suffering so many insults andoutrages from a man who dares still to call himself a Catholic. I commandmy minister not to obey the injunctions of an illegitimate authority. Letyour general know, that if force is employed to tear him from me it shallonly be after having broken all the doors; and I declare him beforehandresponsible for the consequences of such an enormous crime.' And making asign to the cardinal to follow him, 'Let us go,' said the Pope. Theofficer had gone out to carry to the general the message of the holyfather. The secretary of state was installed in an apartment which openedinto the Pope's bedroom. The gates of the Quirinal remained closed to allthe French officers, and General Miollis did not claim his prisoner."

Months had meanwhile passed away. The emperor had quitted Spain to makepreparations for the campaign of Germany. Without ever ceasing to load thePope with unfriendly words and treatment, Napoleon had been engaged inaffairs more important than his troubles with the pontifical court. Publicorder was maintained in Rome, thanks to the Italian prudence of thesecretary of state, and the strict discipline which General Miollis knewhow to maintain among his troops, and even among the auxiliaries he hadrecruited from the revolutionary middle-class. The time arrived, however,when this situation, more violent in fact than in form, was suddenly toassume its real character. Napoleon was at Schoenbrunn, already victor inthe five days' battle which had rendered him master of Vienna, and morecertain than he was immediately after Essling of the promptitude andextent of his success. It was then that he drew up, and sent by Champagny,two decrees relating to the taking possession, pure and simple, of theStates of the Pope. He explained the reasons of this to his minister in along letter, which was to serve as a basis for Champagny's report, andwhich, by its singular mixture of thoughts and principles, showed thehistorical heredity connecting the power of Napoleon with that ofCharlemagne, united to the sovereign power which disposed in the name ofconquest of territories and states, were confused in the imagination ofthe emperor, and made him look upon the independent attitude of the Popeas an act of criminal opposition.

"When Charlemagne made the popes temporal sovereigns, he wished them toremain vassals of the empire; now, far from thinking themselves vassals ofthe empire, they are not even willing to form a part of it. The aim ofCharlemagne in his generosity towards the popes was the welfare ofChristianity; and now they claim to ally themselves with Protestants andthe enemies of Christianity. The least impropriety that results from thesearrangements is to see the head of the Catholic religion negotiating withProtestants; whilst according to the laws of the Church he ought to shunthem, and excommunicate them. (There is a prayer to this effect recited atRome.)

"The interest of religion, and the interest of the peoples of France,Germany and Italy, require that an end should be made of this ridiculoustemporal power--the feeble remnant of the exaggerated pretensions of theGregories, who claimed to reign over kings, to give away crowns, and tohave the direction of the affairs of earth as well as of heaven. In theabsence of councils, let the popes have the direction of the affairs ofthe Church so far as they do not infringe on the liberties of the GallicanChurch--that is all right; but they ought not to mix themselves up witharmies or state policy. If they are the successors of Jesus Christ, theyought not to exercise any other dominion than that which He Himselfexercised, and His 'kingdom is not of this world.'

"If your Majesty does not do that which you alone can do, you will leavein Europe the seeds of dissension and discord. Posterity, whilst praisingyou for having re-established religion and re-erected her altars, willblame you for having left the empire (which is in fact the major portionof Christendom) exposed to the influence of this fantastic medley,inimical to religion and the tranquillity of the empire. This obstacle canonly be surmounted by separating the temporal from the spiritualauthority, and by declaring that the states of the Pope form a portion ofthe French Empire."

It is too often an error of men, even of the first rank, to believe in theuniversal power and duration of their wishes and decisions. The EmperorNapoleon though he had solved forever this question of the temporal powerof the popes-a question which we have so many times heard discussed by themost eloquent voices; we have seen armies upholding on fields of battlecontradictory principles on this subject, and diplomacy painfullyaccomplishing imperfect settlements.

He displayed towards Pope Pius VII. the most arrogant contempt of therights and independence of others, and a passionate self-will as regardsall resistance. Under shelter of ancient authority, of which heretrospectively took possession, he boldly invoked the highest reasons andthe most venerated names, in order to justify an arbitrary resolution, andthe grasping selfishness which swayed his mind. It was the practice of theFrench Revolution to prop up its violent and despotic proceedings by theloftiest principles; the Emperor Napoleon had not forgotten thistradition.

In all the manifestly criminal acts of his powerful career--in the fatalresolves of his mistaken and culpable caprices, whether it was a questionof the assassination of the Due d'Enghien or the brutal removal of thePope from Rome--Napoleon always chose his part in the complete isolationof his soul, and by the spontaneous act of a personal decision; he madesure of the execution of his will with minute precautions: he did not theless subsequently seek to throw back the responsibility of the actsthemselves upon the instruments too ready to obey him. When Europesuddenly learnt that the Pope had been removed from the states henceforthunited to the French Empire, Napoleon wrote to Fouché, "I am vexed thatthe Pope has been arrested; it is a great folly. It was necessary toarrest Cardinal Pacca, and leave the Pope in tranquillity at Rome;" and toCambacérès, the 28th July: "It is without my orders, and against my will,that the Pope has been made to leave Rome."

Measures had, however, been taken with that provident exactitude whichcharacterized the personal orders of the Emperor Napoleon. Immediately hehad resolved upon the confiscation of the Roman States he had divined theconsequence and importance of this act; the new government was organized,Murat had been charged with the command of the troops, and to hold himselfready for any event. "Since your Majesty has made me aware of yourintentions as to Rome, I shall not withdraw from Naples," wrote Murat tothe emperor. "Word has been sent me that the Pope wished to send forth anexcommunication, but that the majority of the Consistory were opposed toit. All your orders will be fulfilled, and I hope without trouble."

This was hoping for much from the patience of the holy father, andmaintaining great illusions as to the decision long since taken by theCourt of Rome. The project of the spoliation of the pontifical states hadnot been kept so secret that the Pope and his minister had not beenapprised of it; and several times Pius VII. had let it be understood thathe was prepared for resistance. "We see plainly that the French wish toforce us to speak Latin," he had said quite recently; "ah, well! we willdo it."

General Miollis, supported and directed by the King of Naples, did nottake much account of the Latin of the court of Rome when it was a questionof obeying the orders of the Emperor Napoleon. The military preparationscompleted (the 10th June, 1809), the tricolor flag was mounted upon thecastle of St. Angelo in place of the pontifical arms, and the imperialdecrees were everywhere read before the population of Rome and theassembled troops. The report of these things soon reached the Quirinal. "Irushed suddenly into the apartment of the holy father," writes CardinalPacca, "and on meeting we both pronounced the words of the Redeemer,_Consummatum est!_ I was in a condition difficult to describe, but thesight of the holy father, who maintained an unalterable tranquillity, muchedified me, and reanimated my courage. A few minutes afterwards my nephewbrought me a copy of the imperial decree. Observing the Pope attentivelyat the first words, I saw emotion on his countenance, and the signs ofindignation only too natural. Little by little he recovered himself, andhe heard the reading with much tranquillity and resignation." CardinalPacca was even obliged to urge the pope to promulgate the bull ofexcommunication, which had been prepared already since 1806. Pius VII.still hesitated. "Raise your eyes towards heaven, Thrice Holy Father,"said the secretary of state, "and then give me your order, and be surethat that which proceeds from your mouth will be the will of God." "Ah,well! let the bull go forth," cried the Pope; "but let those who shallexecute your orders take great care, for if they are discovered they willbe shot, and for that I should be inconsolable."

The bull of excommunication against the Emperor Napoleon was everywhereplacarded in Rome, without the agents of Cardinal Pacca undergoing thevengeance dreaded by the Pope. Anger and fear were wrestling in a highersphere. The instructions of the emperor had been precise: "I have confidedto you the care of maintaining tranquillity in my Roman states," he wroteto General Miollis. "You are to have arrested, even in the house of thePope himself, those who plot against public tranquillity, and against thesafety of my soldiers. A priest abuses his character, and merits lessindulgence than another man, when he preaches war and disobedience totemporal power, and when he sacrifices spiritual things for the interestof this world, which the Scripture declares not to be his." And to theKing of Naples, in two different letters, of the 17th and 19th of June:"If the Pope wishes to form a reunion of caballers like Cardinal Pacca, itwill be necessary to permit nothing of the kind, and to act at Rome as Ishould act towards the cardinal archbishop of Paris.... I have given youto understand that my intention was that the affairs of Rome should bequickly settled, and that no species of opposition should take place. Noasylum ought to be respected, if my decrees are not submitted to; andunder no pretext whatever ought any resistance to be allowed. If the Pope,in opposition to the spirit of his office and of the Gospel, preachesrevolt, and wishes to make use of the immunity of his house for theprinting of circulars, he ought to be arrested. The time for this sort ofthing is past. Philippe le Bel caused Boniface to be arrested; and CharlesV. kept Clement VII. in prison for a long time, for far less cause. Thepriest who to the temporal powers preaches discord and war, instead ofpeace, abuses his character."

The orders were precise, and admitted of no hesitation. The confiscationof the papal states had been responded to by the papal bull; open war hadbroken out between Pius VII., and the Emperor Napoleon. The latter wasdesirous of insuring the execution of his will by sending to Rome GeneralRadet, less honorably scrupulous than General Miollis; an instrumentdocile and daring, as regards the details of the general scheme. Radet hashimself given an account of the removal of the Pope in a report to theminister of war, dated July 13th, 1809. In 1814, he had forgotten theexistence of this letter, and vainly sought to minimize the importance ofthe part which he played on the 6th of July. History must preserve forGeneral Radet his place in her annals. The man to carry out the projectsof Napoleon had been well chosen.

Already for several months the Pope had been carefully guarding himself inthe Quirinal; the precautions had been redoubled since the decrees, andthe publication of the bull. Pius VII. and his counsellors foresaw theremoval. General Radet took all possible measures to turn aside suspicion."On the 5th, at the break of day," he himself wrote, "I made the necessaryarrangements, which I succeeded in screening from the eyes of the Romansby double patrols and measures of police. I kept the troops in thebarracks all day, in order to lull the public and the inhabitants of theQuirinal into a feeling of security. From that spot the Pope governed withhis finger more than we did with our bayonets. At nine o'clock, I causedthe military chiefs to come to me, one after another, and gave them myorders. At ten o'clock, we were collected in the place of the HolyApostles, and at the barracks of La Pilota, which was the centre of myoperations. At eleven o'clock I myself placed my patrols, my guards, myposts, and my detachments for carrying out the operations, whilst thegovernor-general caused the bridges of the Tiber and the castle of St.Angelo to be occupied by a Neapolitan battalion."

General Radet had received a written order from General Miollis, for thearrest of Cardinal Pacca. The order to arrest the Pope was not writtendown. Nobody had dared to put his signature to it; verbal instructionsonly were given.

Three detachments of soldiers, furnished with scaling-ladders, ropes andgrappling-irons, surrounded the Quirinal. At half-past ten, the sentinelwho kept guard on the tower of the Quirinal disappeared. The signal wasimmediately given. With varying success the small battalions introducedthemselves into the palace. The Swiss guard was disarmed; it had for along time previously received orders to make no resistance. The chiefanxiety of the Pope had always been that he might be up and about whenthey should come to arrest him. He had gone to bed late, and was roused upby the noise in the middle of his first sleep. Cardinal Pacca, however,found him completely dressed, when the former rushed precipitately intohis chamber. The gate was already yielding to the efforts of theassailants. Pius VII. seated himself under a canopy; making a sign to thesecretary of state, and to Cardinal Desping, to place themselves near him."Open the gate," said he.

General Radet had never seen the Pope; he recognized him by the attitudeof his guides; and immediately sending back the soldiers, he caused theofficers to enter with drawn swords; a few gendarmes, with muskets intheir hands, also glided into the chamber. The priest was waiting insilence; the soldier was hesitating. At length the latter, hat in hand,spoke: "I have a sorrowful mission to accomplish," said General Radet; "Iam compelled by my oaths to fulfil it." Pius VII. stood up. "Who are you,"said he, "and what is it you require of me, that you come at such an hourto trouble my repose and invade my dwelling-place?" "Most Holy Father,"replied the General, "I come in the name of my government to reiterate toyour Holiness the proposal to officially renounce your temporal power. Ifyour holiness consents to it, I do not doubt but that affairs may bearranged, and that the emperor will treat your holiness with the greatestrespect." The Pope was resting one hand upon the table placed before him."If you have believed yourself bound to execute such orders of the emperorby reason of your oath of fidelity and obedience, think to what an extentwe feel compelled to sustain the rights of the holy see, to which we arebound by so many oaths? We can neither yield nor abandon that whichbelongs to it. The temporal power belongs to the Church, and we are onlythe administrator. The emperor may tear us in pieces, but he will notobtain from us what he demands. After all that we have done for him, oughtwe to expect such treatment?"

"I know that the emperor is under many obligations to your holiness!"replied Radet, more and more troubled. "Yes, more than you are aware of;but, finally, what are your orders?"--"Most Holy Father, I regret thecommission with which I am charged, but I must inform you that I amordered to take you away with me." The pontiff bent slightly towards thespeaker, and said in tones of sweet compassion, "Ah! my son, your missionis one that will not draw down upon you the divine blessing." Then,turning again towards the cardinals, and appearing to speak to himself,"This, then, is the recognition which is accorded to me of all that whichI have done for the emperor! This, then, is the reward for my greatcondescension towards him and towards the Church of France! But perhaps inthis respect I have been culpable towards God. He wishes to punish me; Isubmit with humility."

General Radet had sent for the final orders of General Miollis. Thebrigadier of gendarmerie charged with this commission re-entered thechamber of the Pope. "The order of his excellency," said he, "is, that itis necessary for the holy father and Cardinal Pacca to set out at oncewith General Radet: the other persons in his suite will follow after." ThePope rose up; he walked with difficulty. Moved in spite of himself, Radetoffered his arm to support him, proposing to retire, in order to leave theholy father free to give his orders and dispose of any valuable objectsthat he might have a fancy for. "When one has no hold upon life, one hasno hold upon the things of this world," replied Pius VII., taking from atable at the side of his bed his breviary and his crucifix. "I am ready,"said he.

The carriage was already at the palace gate, the postillions ready tostart. The Pope stood still, giving his benediction to the city of Rome,and to the French troops ranged in order of battle on the place. It wasfour o'clock in the morning; the streets were deserted. The Pope got intothe carriage beside Cardinal Pacca; the doors were locked by a gendarme.General Radet and a marshal of the household got on to the box-seat; thehorses set off at a quick trot along the road to Florence.

General Radet offered a purse of Gold to the Pope, which the latterrefused. "Have you any money?" asked the holy father of his companion. "Ihave not been permitted to enter my apartment," said the cardinal; "and Idid not think of bringing my purse." The Pope had a papetto, value twentysous. "This is all that remains tome of my principality," said he,smiling. "We are travelling in apostolic fashion," responded Pacca. "Wehave done well in publishing the bull of the 10th of June," replied PiusVII.; "now it would be too late."

For nineteen hours the coach rattled along; the stores were getting low.Everywhere, and in spite of a few accidents, the passage of the Popeforestalled the news of his capture. The suite of the holy father joinedhim on the morrow; the Pope was suffering, he was in a fever. The populacebegan to be stirred up with the rumors which were circulating: theycrowded round the carriages. "I disembarrassed myself of them," writesRadet, "by calling out to them to place themselves on their knees on theright and left of the road, in order that the holy father might give himhis benediction; then all of a sudden I ordered the postillions to dashforward. By this means the people were still on their kness whilst we werealready far away, at a gallop. This plan succeeded everywhere."

Arrived on the 8th of July at the chartreuse of Florence, Pius VII.expected to rest there a few days: but the Princess Baciocchi had notreceived instructions from the emperor: she hurried the departure. "I seewell that they want to cause my death by their bad treatment," said theexhausted old man; "and if there is but a little more of it I feel thatthe end will not be far off." Cardinal Pacca was no longer with him. AtGenoa the Prince Borghese, who was commanding there, was seized with thesame panic as the Princess Baciocchi. After a few moments of repose atAlexandria, Pius VII. was carried, by way of Mondovi and Rivoli, towardsGrenoble. In the last stages, in the little Italian villages, the bellspealed forth, and the crowd who besought the benediction of the prisonereverywhere retarded the advance. It was the same in all the districts ofSavoy and Dauphiny. When the Pope made his entry into Grenoble, on the21st of July, the ardor of the population had not diminished, but thebells rang no longer; the clergy had been forbidden to present themselvesbefore the pontiff. The prefect was absent, Fouché having been designedlydetained at Paris. The orders of the emperor had at length arrived fromSchoenbrunn. "I received at the same time the two letters of GeneralMiollis and that of the Grand Duchess," he wrote, on the 18th of July, toFouché. "I am vexed that the Pope has been arrested; it is a great folly.It was needful to arrest Cardinal Pacca, and to leave the Pope quietly atRome. But there is no remedy for it now; what is done is done. I know notwhat the Prince Borghese will have done, but my intention is that the Popeshould not enter France. If he is still in the Rivière of Genoa, the bestplace at which he could be placed would be Savona. There is a house therelarge enough, where he would be suitably lodged until we know what coursehe decides upon. If his madness terminates, I have no objection to hisbeing taken back to Rome. If he has entered France, have him taken backtowards Savona and San Remo. Cause his correspondence to be examined. Asto Cardinal Pacca, have him shut up at Fenestrella; and let him understandthat if a single Frenchman is assassinated through his instigation, hewill be the first to pay for it with his head."

Fifteen days later (August 6th, 1809), in the midst of his prudent andforeseeing preparations for the possible resumption of hostilities,enlightened by reflection, or by the report of the popular emotion in theprovinces traversed by Pius VII., Napoleon modified his orders as to theresidence of the Pope. "Monsieur Fouché, I should have preferred that onlyCardinal Pacca had been arrested at Rome, and that the Pope had been leftthere. I should have preferred, since the Pope has not been left at Genoa,that he had been taken to Savona; but since he is at Grenoble, I should bevexed that you should make him set out to be re-conducted to Savona; itwould be better to guard him at Grenoble, since he is there; the formercourse would have the appearance of making sport of the old man. I havenot authorized Cardinal Fesch to send any one to his holiness; I have onlyhad the minister of religion informed that I should desire Cardinal Mauryand the other prelates to write to the Pope, to know what he wishes, andto make him understand that if he renounces the Concordat I shall regardit on my side as null and void. As to Cardinal Pacca, I suppose that youhave sent him to Fenestrella, and that you have forbidden hiscommunication with any one. I make a great difference between the Pope andhim, principally on account of his rank and his moral virtues. The Pope isa good man, but ignorant and fanatical. Cardinal Pacca is a man ofeducation and a scoundrel, an enemy of France, and deserving of no regard.Immediately I know where the Pope is located I shall see about takingdefinitive measures; of course if you have already caused him to set outfor Savona, it is not necessary to bring him back."

The Pope was at Savona, where he was long to remain. Already thedifficulties of religious administration were commencing, and theemperor's mind was engrossed with the institution of bishops to the vacantsees. He had ordered all the prelates to chant a public _Te Deum_ withreference to the victory of Wagram. The bishops of Dalmatia alone hadfrankly and spiritedly replied to the statement of reasons which precededthe circular. In France the silence was still profound. The emperor hadbeforehand forbidden the journals to give any news from Rome. "It is a badplan to let articles be written," he wrote to Fouché; "there is to be nospeaking, either for or against, and it is not to be a matter fordiscussion in the journals. Well-informed men know perfectly that I havenot attacked Rome. The mistaken bigots you cannot alter. Act on thisprinciple." The _Moniteur_ held its tongue. All the journals followed itsexample. No one talked of the bull of excommunication. The circuits of themissionary priests were forbidden, as well as the ecclesiasticalconferences of St. Sulpice. "The missionaries are for whoever pays them,"declared the emperor, "for the English, if they are willing to employthem. I do not wish to have any missions whatever; get me ready a draft ofa decree on that subject; I wish to complete it. I only know bishops,priests, and curates. I am satisfied with keeping up religion in my owncountry; I do not care about propagating it abroad." All the cardinalsstill remaining at Rome were expelled. In the depths of his soul, and inspite of the chimerical impulses of his irritated thoughts, Napoleon wasalready feeling the embarrassments which he had himself sown along hispath. The Pope a prisoner at Savona, indomitable in his conscientiousresistance, might become more dangerous than the Pope at Rome, powerlessand unarmed. The struggle was not terminated; a breath of revolt hadpassed over Europe. Henceforth Napoleon was at war with that Catholicreligion, the splendor of whose altars he had deemed it a point of honorto restore; he struggled at the same time violently against that nationalindependence of the peoples which he had everywhere in his words invokedin opposition to the arbitrary jealousy of the monarchs. The Spanishsovereigns had succumbed to his yoke; the Spanish people, henceforthsustained by the might of England, courageously defended its liberties. Atthe moment when the supreme effort of the victory of Wagram was about tosnatch humiliating concessions from the Emperor Francis, the captive Popeand the Spanish insurgents were presenting to Europe a salutary andstriking contrast, the teachings of which she was beginning to comprehend.

Not the least significant of the lessons on the frailty of the humancolossi raised by conquerors is the impossibility of tracing their historyon the same canvas. For a long time Napoleon alone had filled the scene,and his brilliant track was easily kept in view. In proportion as heaccumulated on his shoulders a burden too heavy, and as he extended hisempire without consolidating it, the insufficiency of human will and humanpower made itself more painfully felt. Napoleon was no longer everywherepresent, acting and controlling, in order to repair the faults he hadcommitted, or to dazzle the spectators with new successes. In vain theprodigious activity of his spirit sought to make up for the radical defectof his universal dominion. The Emperor Napoleon was conquered by the verynature of things, before the fruits of his unmeasured ambition had hadtime to ripen, and before all Europe, indignant and wearied out, was atlength roused up against him.

There was already, in 1809, a confused but profound instinctive feelingthroughout the world that the moment for resistance and for supremeefforts had arrived. The Archduke Charles had proved it in Austria by thefury of his courage; the English cabinet were bearing witness to it by thegreat preparations they were displaying on their coast and in theirarsenals, as well as by the ready aid lent by them to the insurgents ofthe Peninsula. The Emperor Napoleon on quitting Spain, in the month ofJanuary, had left behind him the certain germs of growing disorder.Obliged of necessity to commit the chief command to King Joseph, he hadbeen desirous of remedying the weakness and military incapacity of themonarch whom he had himself put on the throne by conferring upon themarshals charged with continuing the war an almost absolute authority overtheir _corps d'armée_. Each of them was to correspond directly with theminister of war, supremely directed by Napoleon himself. Deprived thus ofall serious control over the direction of the war, King Joseph saw himselfequally thwarted in civil and financial affairs. Spanish interests werenaturally found to conflict with French interests. King Joseph defendedthe former; an army of imperial functionaries were charged with theprotection of the second. In this mission they proceeded at times even toinsult. King Joseph threatened to place in a carriage M. de Fréville,administrator for the treasury of confiscated goods, and to send himdirectly to France. The complaints of the unfortunate monarch to hisbrother were frequent and well founded. "Your Majesty has not entireconfidence in me," he wrote on the 17th of February to Napoleon, "andmeanwhile, without that, the position is not tenable. I shall not againrepeat what I have already written ten times as to the situation of thefinances; I give all my faculties to business from eight o'clock in themorning to eleven o'clock in the evening; I go out once a week; I have nota sou to give to any one; I am in the fourth year of my reign, and I stillsee my guard with the first frock-coat which I gave it, three years ago; Iam the goal of all complaints; I have all pretensions to overcome; mypower does not extend beyond Madrid, and at Madrid itself I am dailythwarted. Your Majesty has ordered the sequestration of the goods of tenfamilies, it has been extended to more than double. All the habitablehouses are sealed up; 6000 domestics of the sequestrated families are inthe streets. All demand charity; the boldest of them take to robbery andassassination. My officers--all those who sacrificed with me the kingdomof Naples--are still lodged by billets. Without capital, without income,without money, what can I do? All this picture, bad as it is, is notexaggerated, and, bad as it is, it will not exhaust my courage; I shallarrive at the end of all that. Heaven has given me everything needful toovercome the hindrances from circumstances or from my enemies; but thatwhich Heaven has denied me is an organization capable of supporting theinsults and contradictions of those who ought to serve me, and, above all,of contending with the dissatisfaction of a man whom I have loved too wellto be ever willing to dislike him. Thus, sire, if my whole life has notgiven you the fullest confidence in me; if you judge it necessary tosurround me with petty souls, who cause me myself to redden with shame; ifI am to be insulted even in my capital; if I have not the right to appointthe governors and commandants who are always under my eyes,--I have nottwo choices to make. I am only King of Spain by the force of your arms. Imight become so by the love of the Spaniards; but for that it would benecessary to govern in my own manner. I have often heard you say, 'Everyanimal has its instinct, and each one ought to follow it.' I will be sucha king as the brother and friend of your Majesty ought to be, or I willreturn to Mortefontaine, where I shall ask for nothing but the happinessof living without humiliation, and of dying with a tranquil conscience."

Joseph Bonaparte had presumed too much on his forces and the remains ofhis independence. Constantly hard and severe with regard to his brothers,the emperor replied with scorn to King Joseph: "It is not ill-temper andsmall passions that you need, but views cool and conformable to yourposition. You talk to me of the constitution. Let me know if theconstitution forbids the King of Spain to be at the head of 300,000Frenchmen? if the constitution prohibits the garrison from being French,and the governor of Madrid a Frenchman? if the constitution says that inSaragossa the houses are to be blown up one after another? You will notsucceed in Spain, except by vigor and energy. This parade of goodness andclemency ends in nothing. You will be applauded so long as my armies arevictorious; you will be abandoned if they are vanquished. You ought tohave become acquainted with the Spanish nation in the time you have beenin Spain, and after the events that you have seen. Accustom yourself tothink your royal authority as a very small matter."

The emperor had correctly judged the precarious condition of the Frenchpower in Spain; he had reckoned, and he still reckoned, on the success ofhis arms. The military counsellor whom he had left near his brotherpossessed neither his esteem nor his confidence. Marshal Jourdan was acold and prudent spirit, always imbued with the military habits of theFrench Revolution, and had never courted the favor of Napoleon; KingJoseph was attached to him, and had brought him with him to Naples. Thelieutenants of the emperor showed him no deference; it was, however, byhis agency that the orders of the minister of war passed to the staff-officers at Madrid. Already, and by the express instructions of theemperor, Marshal Soult was on march for Portugal. His rapid triumphs didnot appear doubtful; and the operations of Marshal Victor in the south ofSpain were to be dependent on the succors that were to reach him whenLisbon was conquered. The difficulties everywhere opposed to Marshal Soultby the passionate insurrection of the Portuguese population, however,retarded his march. He only arrived on the banks of the Minho on the 15thof February; the peasants had taken away the boats. An attempted passagenear the mouth of the river having failed, the _corps d'armée_ wascompelled to reascend its course, after a series of partial combatsagainst the forces of the Marquis of Romana, who had given his support tothe Portuguese insurrection. When he had at length succeeded in crossingthe Minho at Orense, Soult seized successively the towns of Chaves andBraga, which were scarcely defended. The chiefs of the insurgents had beenconstrained by their soldiers to this useless show of resistance, GeneralFrère having been massacred by the militia whom he ordered to evacuateBraga. At Oporto the disorder was extreme; the population fought under theorders of the bishop. The attack had been cleverly arranged. At the momentwhen the bewildered crowd was pressing tumultuously over the bridge ofboats across the Douro, the cables broke; men, women, and children wereengulfed in the waves. In spite of the efforts of the general, the citywas sacked. The long wars, the rude life of the camps, the daily habit ofsubsisting by pillage, had little by little relaxed the bonds ofdiscipline. Marshal Soult established himself at Oporto, incapable ofadvancing even to Lisbon with his forces reduced by garrisoning towns, inpresence of the English troops, who had not ceased to occupy the capital.He could not, or he would not make known at Madrid the position in whichhe found himself. Behind him the insurrection had closed every passage. Hefound himself isolated in Portugal, and conceived the thought ofsubmitting the environs of Oporto to a regular and pacific government, re-establishing order all round, and constantly attentive to gain the favorof important persons. Perhaps the marshal raised his hopes even to thefoundation of an independent and personal power, more durable thanimperial conquests. It was with his consent that the draft of a popularpronunciamento was circulated in the provinces of Minho and Oporto,praying "his Excellency the Duke of Dalmatia to take the reins ofgovernment, to represent the sovereign, and to invest himself with all theattributes of supreme authority, until the emperor might designate aprince of his house or of his choice to reign over Portugal."

The sentiments of the army were divided, and an opposition was preparingto the schemes of the marshal, when the latter learned that an enemy moreredoubtable than the Portuguese insurrection was threatening him in thisprovince, where he had dreamed of founding a kingdom. Sir Arthur Wellesleyhad arrived at Lisbon on the 22nd of April, with reinforcements whichswelled the English _corps d'armée_ to 25,000 men; fifteen or twentythousand Portuguese soldiers marched under his orders; a crowd ofinsurgents impeded rather than aided his operations. He advancedimmediately against Marshal Soult, now for five weeks immovable at Oporto.On the 2nd of May he was at Coimbra. Well informed of the plots which werepreparing at Oporto, to which a French officer named Argentan had beenengaged to lend a hand, he resolved upon attacking as speedily as possiblethe positions of the marshal. When the latter was informed of the projectsof the English general, retreat was already cut off in the valley of theTamega by a strong assemblage of the insurgents, and in the valley of theDouro by the English general Beresford. Only one route remained still opento Marshal Soult--by Braga and the provinces of the north. Retreat wasresolved upon, the powder saturated, the field artillery horsed; thedeparture was ordered for twelve at noon, and a part of the army wasalready defiling on the road to Amarante.

In the night between the 11th and 12th two English battalions had crossedthe Douro at Avinto, three leagues above Oporto, collecting all thevessels which were to be found on the river, and descending the course ofthe stream under cover of the darkness. The army of Sir Arthur Wellesleyhad meanwhile occupied the suburbs of the left bank, concealing hismovements behind the heights of La Sarca. Marshal Soult was ignorant ofthat operation. At daybreak a small body of picked men, boldly crossingthe river within sight of our soldiers, took possession of an enclosurecalled the Seminary. Entrenching themselves there, and constantlyreceiving new reinforcements, the English made a desperate defence againstthe attempts of General Delaborde. The main body of the enemy's armybeginning to fill all the streets of Oporto, the marshal at once soundedretreat, and the wounded and sick were left to the care of the English.When, on the evening of the 12th, the army reached the town of Baltar,Soult learned that the roads by Braga had been intercepted, as well as bythe valley of the Douro. General Loison, unable to force the passage ofthe Tamega, had evacuated Amarante. The roads from the north would bringthe army back to the suburbs of Oporto. The marshal, not wishing to risk afresh encounter with the enemy, at once made up his mind to sacrificewithout hesitation his baggage, ammunition, artillery, and even thegreater part of the treasure of the army, to enter the mountain passes,and join at Guimaraens the divisions which had preceded him. When at lastthe army reached Orense, after seven days' marching, varied by smallskirmishes, the soldiers were exhausted and depressed. Portugal was forthe second time lost to us. Marshal Soult immediately marched towardsGalicia, which had for two months been the theatre of Ney's operations,and freed Lugo, while that marshal was making a brilliant expedition inthe Asturias along with General Kellermann. The two chiefs made anarrangement as to the measures to be taken against the insurgents who hadassembled at St. Jago under the orders of the Marquis Romana; after whichSoult was to march upon Old Castile as far as Zamora, to be near theEnglish, who were said to be threatening the south of Portugal. Neyproposed to attack Vigo, where General Noriena had fortified himself,supported by the crews of several English vessels. From the very first,since the junction of the two armies, both officers and soldiers hadexchanged keen and bitter recrimination. A better feeling, however, hadreappeared, and the mutual good-will of the chiefs for each other silencedthe ill-disposed. After their separation, Ney freed St. Jago; but afteradvancing to the suburbs of Vigo, and seeing its strong position, hewaited for the result of Soult's movement against Romana.

Several days having elapsed, he learned that, after driving Romana back toOrense without fighting, and staying several days at Montforte, themarshal had taken the road to Zamora, without replying to the letters ofhis companion-in-arms. From information received from Lugo, Ney waspersuaded that Soult's project had long been premeditated, and that he hadof deliberate purpose broken the bargain stipulated between them. Hisanger burst forth with a violence proportioned to the frankness he hadshown when treating with Soult, and this anger was shared by the officersand soldiers of his army. He at once determined to evacuate Galicia, whichwas threatened both by the English and the Spanish insurgents. Leaving astrong garrison at Ferrol, Ney slowly advanced towards Lugo, where hecollected the sick and wounded left by Soult, and then returned toAstorga, in the beginning of July. He wrote to King Joseph: "If I hadwished to resolve to leave Galicia without artillery, I could haveremained there longer, at the risk of being hemmed in; but, avoiding sucha mode of departure, I have retreated, bringing with me my sick andwounded, as well as those of Marshal Soult, left in my charge. I informyour Majesty that I have decided not to serve again in company withMarshal Soult."

King Joseph now had a most troublesome complication, and a position thatdaily became more serious. At one time, in April, he was in hopes ofseeing his affairs right themselves again, in spite of the absence of allnews of Soult's operations in Portugal. Marshal Victor, urged by the Kingof Spain and by his staff to obey the emperor's instructions and invadeAndalusia, had crossed the Tagus in three columns, and, reforming again onthe Guadiana, had, after passing that river, joined near Medellin DonGregorio de la Cuesta, who retreated for several days before him. A severebattle having dispersed those large forces of the Spanish insurgents, onthe 28th March, the marshal took up his position on the banks of theGuadiana, at the very time when General Sebastiani, at the head of twodivisions, was defeating the army of Estremadura at Ciudad Real, anddriving it back to the entrance of the Sierra Morena. There they awaitedthe movement ordered in the instructions given to Soult, the pivot of thewhole campaign, projected by Napoleon before his departure for Paris. Itwas in Germany, just after the battle of Essling, that the emperor learnedof the check caused to all his combinations by Soult's immobility atOporto. Obstinate in directing himself the operations of armies at adistance, without the power of taking into account the state of publicopinion, and without any knowledge of all that had occurred between thedeparture of the couriers and the arrival of peremptory orders no longersuitable to the situation, the emperor conceived the idea of concentratingthree armies under one man. Making all personal considerations bend to theorder of seniority, he entrusted the command to Marshal Soult, thusinvesting him with supreme authority over Marshals Mortier and Ney. Theorder reached Madrid at the moment when the leaders of the armies weremost keenly antagonistic. "You will send a staff-officer to Spain,"Napoleon had written to the minister of war, "with the orders that theforces of the Duke of Elchingen, the Duke of Trevisa, and the Duke ofDalmatia will form only one army, under the command of the Duke ofDalmatia. These forces must only move together, to march against theEnglish, pursue them incessantly, defeat them, and throw them into thesea. Putting all considerations aside, I give the command to the Duke ofDalmatia, as being senior in rank. These forces ought to form from 50,000to 60,000 men, and if the junction is promptly effected, the English willbe destroyed, and the affairs of Spain arranged finally. But they mustkeep together, and not march in small parties. That principle applies toevery country, but especially to a country where there can be nocommunication. I cannot appoint a place for the armies to meet, because Ido not know what events have taken place. Forward this order to the king,to the Duke of Dalmatia, and to the two other marshals, by four differentroads."

Whilst thus writing, constantly and justly apprehensive of the dangercaused by the English army, Napoleon was still ignorant of the evacuationof Portugal. "Let your instructions to them be, to attack the enemywherever they meet him," he said three days previously to General Clarke,"to renew their communications with the Duke of Dalmatia, and support himon the Minho. The English alone are to be feared; alone, if the army isnot directed differently, they will in a few months lead it to acatastrophe."

The order sent by the emperor necessarily assisted in bringing about thecatastrophe of which he was afraid. Marshal Soult, being deceived as tothe plan of the English, and meditating an attack upon Portugal by CiudadRodrigo, wished to concentrate large forces for this purpose. He sent forMarshal Mortier, who was posted at Villacastín, where he covered Madrid,and demanded reinforcements from Aragon and Catalonia. The latter troopswere refused him, and Generals Suchet and St. Cyr had great difficulty inkeeping those two provinces in respect. Marshal Jourdan had foreseen theattack of the English on the Tagus, and was anxious about the position ofMarshal Victor, isolated in Andalusia. Like the other leaders, the marshalacted independently, without attending to the orders from Madrid: he foundhimself compelled to fall back upon Talavera.

He was not to hold that post long. In spite of the extreme difficultyexperienced by Sir Arthur Wellesley in maintaining a good understandingwith his Spanish allies, he had marched to attack Marshal Victor, to whomKing Joseph was sending reinforcements as quickly as he could. About22,000 English soldiers were now on the field, reduced to such scarcity ofprovisions and money as to cause pillage and disorder, in spite of theircommander's anger. Don Cuesta, with about 40,000 men under his orders, hadbeen appointed, much against his will, to occupy the mountain passes. ASpanish army of 30,000 men, collected by General Venegas, was expected tojoin the two principal armies. On leaving Madrid, with the forces at hisdisposal, King Joseph had impressed upon Soult the necessity of attackingthe enemy's rear, so that the Anglo-Spanish army might be crushed betweensuperior forces. The marshal announced his departure.

Victor had had time to fall back upon Vargas, behind the Guadarama. SirArthur Wellesley crossed the Alberche, a tributary of the Tagus, and assoon as he found himself in presence of the enemy, wished to offer battle,urging Cuesta to join him in attacking Victor before the arrival of theenemy's reinforcements. The Spanish general declared that his honor was atstake in holding his positions, and absolutely refused to fight. TheEnglish alone, had not men enough at their disposal to contend with theFrench troops. Scarcely had the latter commenced their retreat when theSpanish, suddenly seized with the ardor of battle, rushed in pursuit,complaining that the "rascals withdrew so fast," wrote Cuesta toWellesley, "that one cannot follow them in their flight." "If you run likethat, you will get beaten," replied the English general, scornfully,annoyed at seeing himself perpetually thwarted in his able plans.

In fact when the Spaniards, a few days afterwards, at last engaged withthe French, Marshal Victor's advance-guard were sufficient to drive Cuestaback as far as the English battalions, which had been prudently told offto support him. The fighting was gallant on the part of our troops, andhelped to excite their ardor. King Joseph was urged to join battle: hefeared an attack on Madrid, which he had been compelled to leaveundefended, and reckoned upon the rapid movements of Soult, who hadreceived orders to advance with all haste from Salamanca to Placentia. Hehad no experience of war, and neglected to take into account the chancesof delay and the loss of troops during the march. Marshal Victor wasdaring, full of contempt for the Spanish troops, and ignorant of thequalities of the English army, which had not for a long time been seen onthe continent. The French army advanced upon Talavera, which was stronglyheld by Sir Arthur. Hampered by the obstinacy and want of discipline ofhis Spanish allies, the English general had relinquished all attempts atdaring, entrenching himself on the defensive. Marshal Soult had notarrived, being unable, he wrote, to effect his operation on the enemy'srear before the beginning of August. On the 27th of July, however, onoccupying the ground before the English positions at Talavera, Victor gaveorders to attack a height which was badly defended, and was driven backwith heavy loss. Marshal Jourdan insisted on a delay of a few days, toallow Soult time to arrive; but the anxiety of King Joseph, and Victor'simpatience, gained the day, and on the 28th, at daybreak, they attackedthe mamelon, already threatened on the 27th.

Our troops gained the top under the English fire, but Sir Arthur haddoubled the ranks of those in defence, and a terrible charge under GeneralHill compelled the French again to abandon the position.

The check was serious, and the soldiers began to be discouraged. By commonconsent, and without orders given by the leaders, the fight ceased. TheEnglish and French crowded on the two banks of a small brook whichseparated the two armies, and all quenched their thirst, without suspicionof treason or perfidy, and without a single shot being fired on eitherside. The French generals again discussed the question of resuminghostilities. "If this mamelon is not taken," exclaimed Victor,impetuously, "we should not take any part in a campaign." King Joseph,deficient in authority both of position and character, gave way. SirArthur Wellesley, seated on the grass at the top of a hill, surveyed theenemy's lines, and the defences, which he had just strengthened by adivision, and a battery of artillery obtained with great difficulty fromCuesta. Till then the English had borne the brunt of the fighting; onGeneral Donkin coming to tell Sir Arthur that the Spanish were betrayinghim, the general-in-chief quietly said, "Go back to your division." Theattack was again begun, and this time directed against the whole line ofthe English positions, while Village's brigade turned the mamelon toassail them in flank.

At this moment a charge of the enemy's cavalry poured upon our columns. AGerman regiment followed Seymour's dragoons, but were stopped by awatercourse, and pulled up: the English horsemen alone, boldly crossingthe obstacle, made a furious attack on the French ranks, which opened tolet them pass. In their daring impetuosity the dragoons went as far as ourrear-guard, where they were stopped by new forces, and finally broughtback with great loss to the foot of the mamelon. They stopped the flankmovement however; and the centre of the English army, shaken for a moment,formed again round Colonel Donellan after a brilliant charge, and oursoldiers were again driven back towards their position. The losses weregreat on both sides. The English did not attempt to pursue theiradvantages, and when the fight had ceased were satisfied with encamping onthe heights of Talavera. Next day the French army withdrew beyond theAlberche without being disturbed by the enemy, and waited finally forMarshal Soult's arrival.

He appeared on the 2nd of August at Placentia, too late for his glory aswell as for the success of the French arms, though in time to modifyWellesley's plans. The latter had commenced to advance towards him,thinking he should meet forces inferior to his own; but Mortier hadalready followed Soult, Ney's troops were advancing by Salamanca, and KingJoseph was preparing to put under him all his regiments, except thoseaccompanying General Sebastiani in his march towards Madrid. Sir ArthurWellesley understood the dangers of his position: his troops were tired,and badly fed; and not wishing to risk again the lot of arms, he hurriedlyre-crossed the Tagus, taking care to blow the bridges up, and fell backupon Truxillo, by the rugged mountain passes. The want of a properunderstanding, and the mutual distrust which during the whole campaign hadreigned between the English and Spanish, had borne their fruits.Wellesley's soldiers, deprived of the resources to which they had beenaccustomed, and which they had a right to expect from their allies, diedin great numbers in their encampments on the bank of the Guadiana: theirwounded had been abandoned at Talavera, when Cuesta evacuated thatposition. Sir Arthur gave vent to his bitter complaints in writing toFrère, the English _chargé d'affaires_ at the insurgents' head-quarters:"I wish the members of the Junta, before blaming me for not doing more,and charging me beforehand with the probable results of the faults andimprudence of others, would be good enough to come here, or send somebodyto supply the wants of our army dying of hunger, and actually afterfighting two days, and defeating in the service of Spain an enemy of twicetheir number, without bread to eat. It is a positive fact that for thelast seven days the English army has not received a third of itsprovisions, that at this moment there are 4000 wounded soldiers dying forwant of the care and necessaries which any other country in the worldwould have supplied, even to its enemies, and that I can derive assistanceof no kind from the country. I cannot even get leave to bury the deadbodies in the neighborhood. We are told that the Spanish troops sometimesbehave well: I confess that I have never seen them behave otherwise thanbadly."

The emperor's anger was extreme on learning the check our troops hadreceived at Talavera. He wrote to Marshal Jourdan, indignantlyrecapitulating all the blunders made during the campaign, without at allconsidering the difficulties everywhere caused by orders sent from adistance, in ignorance of the actual facts of the situation. "When at lastthey decided to give battle," Napoleon summed up, "it was done withoutenergy, since my arms were disgraced. Battle should not be given, unlessseventy chances in one's favor can be counted upon beforehand: even then,one should not offer battle unless there are no more chances to be hopedfor, since the lot of battle is from its nature always doubtful: but oncethe resolution is taken, one must conquer or perish, and the French eaglesmust not withdraw till all have equally put forth every effort. There musthave been a combination of all these faults before an army like my army ofSpain could have been beaten by 30,000 English: but so long as they willattack good troops, like the English ones, in good positions, withoutreconnoitring these positions, without being certain of carrying them,they will lead my men to death, and for nothing at all."

The Spanish armies were, after the battle scattered everywhere, accordingto their custom, to appear again in a short time like swarms of wasps toharass our soldiers. Sir Arthur Wellesley entrenched himself at Badajoz,ready to fall back upon Portugal. No definitive result had crowned thebloody campaign just completed, but it had an influence upon thenegotiations then being carried on in Spain. An attempt, long prepared bythe English, and to which they attached a great importance, now occupiedthe Emperor Napoleon's mind still more than the affairs of Spain.

For several weeks it was believed that the great maritime expeditionorganized on the coasts of England was for the purpose of carryingoverwhelming reinforcements to Spain. A first attempt, of less importance,was directed against our fleets collected at the island of Aix, nearRochefort. Admiral Willaumez, in charge of an expedition to the Antilles,had to rally the squadrons of Lorient and Rochefort, and being unavoidablydelayed at the latter place, it was there that Admiral Gambier came toattack our vessels. Vice-Admiral Allemand carefully fortified the isle ofAix against an attack, the nature of which he had foreseen, though not theextent. During the night of the 11th and 12th April, conducted by severaldivisions, composed of frigates and brigs, thirty large fire-ships weresuddenly launched against our vessels, exploding in all directions,breaking the wooden bars by the weight of their burning masses, adheringto the sides of the ships and compelling even those which they did not seton fire to go aside to avoid dangers which were more to be dreaded. Thanksto the skill and bravery of our sailors, none of the vessels perished byfire; but four of them ran aground at the mouth of the Charente, and wereattacked by the English. The _Calcutta_ surrendered after several hours'fighting--her commander, Captain Lafon, having to pay with his life forthe weak resistance he is said to have made. The English blew up the_Aquilon_ and _Varsovie_, and Captain Roncière himself set fire to the_Tonnerre_, after landing all his crew. Napoleon's continued efforts toform a rival navy in France constituted a standing menace to England.After the cruel expedition of the isle of Aix, the principal effort was tobe directed against Antwerp, always an object of English jealousy anddissatisfaction, as a commercial port, or as a place of war. The workswhich the emperor had been carrying on there increased their anxiety, andon the 29th July forty vessels of the line and thirty frigates appeared insight of the island of Walcheren. From 700 to 800 transport-ships broughtan army to be landed, under the orders of Lord Chatham, Pitt's elderbrother, and containing about 40,000 men, with much artillery. The emperorwas at once informed, and M. Decrès, minister of the marine, proposed tostation at Flushing the fleet of Admiral Missiessy. The latter refused,saying that he would not let himself be taken, and did not wish to see hiscrews decimated by the Walcheren fever. That was the auxiliary upon whichNapoleon reckoned against the English expedition; and rightly, too.

Walcheren was slightly and badly fortified; the emperor consideringFlushing to be quite impregnable. "You say that the bombardment ofFlushing makes you apprehensive of its surrender," he wrote on the 22ndAugust. "You are wrong to have any such fear. Flushing is impregnable solong as there is bread in it, and they have enough for six months.Flushing is impregnable, because there is a moat full of water, which mustbe crossed; and finally, because by cutting the dykes they can inundatethe whole island. Write and tell everywhere that Flushing cannot be taken,unless by the cowardice of the commandants; and also that I am certain ofit, and that the English will go off without having it. The bombs arenothing--absolutely nothing; they will destroy a few houses, but that hasno effect upon the surrender of a place."

General Monnet, who commanded at Flushing, was an old officer of therevolution wars, brave and daring and he did his best in opposing thelanding of the English, with a part of his forces, and in gallantlydefending the place; but the inundation did not succeed, on account of theelevation of the ground and the wind being contrary. Therefore whenNapoleon wrote to Fouché, Flushing had already capitulated, under theefforts of the most formidable siege artillery. The Dutch commandantsurrendered the forts Denhaak and Terwecre at the same time as Middelburg.The feeling of the Dutch nation, formerly favorable to republican France,had been modified since the imperial decrees ruined all the transit trade,the source of Holland's wealth. King Louis alone hastened to theassistance of the French army, advancing with his little army betweenSantvliet and Antwerp. Four Dutch regiments were fighting in Germany, anda small corps had been sent into Spain. Thus, while extending hisenterprises in remote parts, the unbounded ambition of Napoleon leftunprotected the very centre of his empire.

General Rousseau, however, succeeded in protecting the island of Cadsand,and Admiral Strachan and Lord Chatham recalled to the eastern Scheldt theforces which had been intended for the attack on that island. The Englishforces began to land upon the islands of North and South Beveland, inorder to attack Fort Batz at the junction of the two Scheldts, and thusoutflank the French fleet lying in the western Scheldt. Fortunately,Admiral Missiessy had the advantage over the English commanders in speed,and sailing up into the higher Scheldt, formed by the two branches of theriver, he arranged his vessels under forts Lillo and Liefkenshoek which bytheir cross-fires protected the river from bank to bank. Antwerp was thussafe from attack by sea; at Paris there was great anxiety as to attacks byland.

A few provisional demi-brigades, the gendarmes, and picked nationalguards, about 30,000 men altogether--such were the forces at the disposalof the war minister. He durst not--nobody durst, change the destination ofthe troops already marching to Germany. The minister of marine and Fouchéat once proposed a general levy of the national guard, under the orders ofBernadotte--one being daring and dissatisfied, the other fosteringdiscontent of every kind openly or secretly, and still remembering therevolutionary procedure. The Council, presided over by the Arch-chancellorCambacérès, refused to authorize the calling out of the national guardswithout the emperor's express order; but Fouché, without waiting fororders, wrote on his own authority to all the prefects, and stirred upeverywhere a patriotic zeal. At first Napoleon approved of the ardor ofhis minister of police, and severely rated the arch-chancellor andminister of war for their prudence. "I cannot conceive what you are aboutin Paris," he wrote to General Clarke on the 10th August; "you must bewaiting for the English to come and take you in your beds. When 25,000English are attacking our dockyards and threatening our provinces, is theministry doing nothing? What trouble is there in raising 60,000 of thenational guard? What trouble is there in sending the Prince of Pontecorvoto take the command there, where there is nobody? What trouble is there inputting my strongholds, Antwerp, Ostend, and Lille, in a state of siege?It is inconceivable. There is none but Fouché who appears to me to havedone what he could, and to have felt the inconvenience of remaining in adangerous and dishonorable position:--dangerous, because the English,seeing that France is not in movement, and that no impulse is given topublic opinion, will have nothing to fear, and will not hurry to leave ourterritory; dishonorable, because it shows fear of opinion, and allows25,000 English to burn our dockyards without defending them. The slur thuscast upon France is a perpetual disgrace. Circumstances vary from momentto moment. It is impossible for me to give orders to arrive within afortnight. The ministers have the same power as I, since they can hold acouncil and pass decisions. Make use of the Prince of Pontecorvo--make useof General Moncey. I send you besides Marshal Bessières, to remain inParis in reserve. I have ordered a levy of 30,000 men of the nationalguard. If the English make progress, make a second levy of 30,000 in thesame or other departments. It is evident that the enemy, feeling thedifficulty of taking Flushing, intend marching straight to Antwerp, tomake a sudden attempt upon the squadron."

Flushing had succumbed, but the operations of the English were delayed bytheir indecisive generalship. Hope's division easily took possession ofFort Batz, but the main body of the army remained behind. Thefortifications of Antwerp were daily increased and strengthened. Theengineers, under Decaux, who checked the warlike ardor of King Louis,rendered the forts impregnable to sudden assault, inundated the countryall round, and erected the old dams on the Scheldt; and troops also began